Finally! Homemade Crust

One of my goals is to become a great cook.  It's not fair that my dolls get all the good food.  Of course, I haven't had much time to devote to this goal, but lately I've been able to squeeze in a few dishes.  I made a fabulous cheesecake a couple weeks ago.  It was my first and it was delectable.  I would have shared pictures, but they got lost in my camera picture eating problem.  

I've been wanting to learn how to make dough so I can make bread, pasta, pies, and pizza dough. Today I tackled pizza dough and homemade brownies. 

Here is the finished pizza.  The crust could have been a little darker, but it was still good.  It's a barbeque chicken pizza with onions, mushrooms, and green peppers.

Here is a picture of the risen yeast dough.  I was oh so excited to see it actually doubled in size like they said it would.  During the kneading process, I wasn't convinced I was doing it right.

I picked up this pizza pan at Aldi's a couple days ago, for $3.99.  It has slits in the bottom, which helps the crust cook better.  I made this sauce about a week ago from fresh tomatoes, and herbs.  I make homemade spaghetti sauce pretty regularly.  

For my toppings, I chose mushrooms, onions and green peppers.  I lightly sauteed them before adding them on top a layer of pizza cheese.

Then I added the barbeque chicken.  I grilled a couple chicken breasts on my stove top grill.  While it was grilling, I quickly made a barbeque sauce with ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and lots of spices.  

These are fresh basil leaves from my basil plants outside.  No, I don't have a garden, but it's on the list.  How awesome would it be to just walk outside and get fresh food from your garden.

Here's the pizza all assembled.

I should have waited to put the fresh basil on after the pizza came out of the oven.  Oops.  But it worked out okay.  I drizzled a little of my barbeque sauce throughout the pizza.

While I was waiting for the dough to rise, I made a pan of homemade brownies.  This is a recipe I got from Martha Stewart's Cooking School that comes on PBS on Saturday.  That woman had me melting dark chocolate over a bain de marie (water bath).  I left these in the oven about 5 minutes too long, but they were still tasty.  Definitely need some milk with these!  Talk about chocolaty. 

Another picture of the finished pizza.  I got a thumbs up from my mom. 

Next time I will try to get the pizza crust a little browner and the brownies a little less brown.  LOL!  But all in all a successful cooking session.