I’ve found that the illustrious Pizza varies from state to state.

In New York, extra large with a thin crust, scanty amount of sauce, and thin layer of cheese.

In Chicago, thick with a lot of toppings.

In the Mid-West, eaten with almost any topping imaginable – salsa, ranch dressing, spinach, lettuce, tomato chunks, you-name-it.

At our house, homemade.  Two Supreme.  Two plain cheese.  Two something-elses.  All prepared and eaten {almost} every Friday night.

A lot of people don’t seem to understand why we choose to make pizza when it would be so much simpler to buy takeout or frozen.  The reason is not one of convenience, but of flavor.  (Besides the fact that homemade pizza is so much better for you!)

(Warning: picture-heavy post.  Click through at your own- and your browsers – risk!)

Thus the hour 1700 on a Friday night will find us in the kitchen, pulling out our pizza ingredients and mixing them together.

 First appears the Brown Sugar or Sucanat.  Two tablespoons of one or the other is put into our biggest bowl.  Two tablespoons of Salt follow, along with 6 Tablespoons of Instant Yeast.

 6 cups of Water are put onto the stove to warm up…  (Here I got the water too hot, hence the bubbles.  It ought get up to around 110 degrees Fahrenheit.)

…and then poured into the yeast mixture…

…and then mixed with the yeast.

3/4 cup of Olive Oil is added.

As are several cloves of Garlic (to taste).

Abbie jumps up onto the counter, grabs a spoon, and helps me stir.

I gradually pour in about 15 cups of Flour, sort of stirring it in between cups.

Abbie tries to help stir, but the mass is too thick for her.

So I attempt to stir it in, but finally dispair of doing so with a wooden spoon.

 Given’ up on the wooden spoon, remove rings and/or bracelets, shove in hands, knead.

Spread flour on counter, dump grapefruit size lump on flour…

…get out the rolling pin, begin rolling out dough, give up on taking photos for a little while.

Then I carefully pick up the dough and quickly transfer it onto a heavily cornmeal-dusted pizza stone or cookie sheet…

…roll up the edges, repeat six times.  Then it’s on to the sauce…

Nothing too fancy here.  Just your average tomato sauce, enhanced with Pizza Seasoning.

Then we add the cheese, mozzarella with a dusting of Parmesan (Entirely optional.  You can also add cheddar or other cheeses, if you so desire.)

Someone cuts up veggies for supreme.  When we have it, we also try to add pepperoni, beef, or chicken so as to add some protein for our ever-hungry guys.

The Beef Pizza, uncooked.

The supreme, ready to consume.

As well as the Cheese!

Our Pizza recipe makes more than 6 pizzas, but I’ve halfed this amount below.

Homemade Pizza

makes about 4-5 large pizzas

3 Cups Warm Water (about 110 degrees)

3 Tablespoons Instant Dry Yeast

1 Tablespoon Sucanat/Sugar

1 Tablespoon Salt

1/3 Cup {Olive} Oil

7-8 Cups Whole Wheat Flour (or all purpose, if you don’t have WW)

Combine first four ingredients, stir.  Add the oil, then mix in the flour, kneading by hand once it gets thick.  Roll out on a heavily floured surface, place on Pizza Stone or cookie sheet.  Add desired toppings.  Bake at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Bon Appetit!

{Topping Suggestions}

Pepperoni

Beef

Sausage

Chicken

Mushrooms

Peppers

Onion

Garlic

Sun-dried tomatoes

Broccoli

Olives

“Can I help you? ” Are you able to use my skills, imperfect though they be?

Little eyes and tongues beg me to say yes.  I cannot resist.

Clambering onto the counter, they thank me as I hastily make room for them by moving out of reach anything with potential messiness or fragile-ness.  They sit there, grinning away.

“May I stir it?”  Please let me do more than observe.  I want to be doing something for you.  I want to be useful.

I hand them the wooden spoon, knowing full well that afterward I will have to scrub them, the counter, and very likely myself, not to mention finishing stirring what they could not.

The joy on their faces reminds me of the reason I handed the wooden spoon to them on the first place.  It is not about my wants or desires.  Not about the cookies or a clean kitchen either.  It’s about teaching and encouraging little ones to be capable, hard working adults who glorify God in their daily lives.  It is about showing them by example what journey down the path of sanctification looks like.

Stirring, pouring, laughing and scooping, they give me a dim reflection of how I look, striving to do good works.

Just as they are unable to truly assist me, I am unable to truly do anything good.  The little bits that I do do are only there because of God’s work in my life.

And yet just as I thank them for their willingness,  God promises all rewards in heaven for all believers.

“The giving of a whole day’s wages to those that had not done the tenth part of a day’s work, is designed to show that God distributes his rewards by grace  and sovereignty, not of debt...because we are under grace, and not under the law, even such defective services, done in sincerity, shall not only be accepted, but by free grace richly rewarded.”  – Matthew Henry: A Commentary on the Whole Bible  (Volume 5, pg.284 on Matthew 20)

Despite the fact that I am by nature rotten to the core, utterly dead in sin, and a hater of God, He has chosen to redeem me and justify me.

Despite my disgustingly petty efforts, He promises not only to continue to santify me, but to reward me for these efforts!

Hallelujah for God’s wonderful grace!

The frosting is poured on while the cake is still warm, allowing it to seep into the cake a bit. If you want, you could add more cocoa powder to make it more dark chocolatey-ish. Not overly sweet.

Texas Chocolate Cake

Combine:

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry)

2 cups sucanat

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

In a small saucepan, combine:

¾ cup water

½ cup butter or coconut oil

¼ cup cocoa powder

bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and pour into flour mixture. Beat with a mixer at medium speed till well blended. Add:

½ cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Pour batter into greased and floured 15×10* and bake at 375 for 17* minutes.

Icing

Mix, in saucepan:

6 Tbsp. Butter

1/3 cup milk

¼ cup cocoa powder

bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and gradually stir in:

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla

Spread on top of hot cake. Can add ¼ cup pecans.

*can be baked in 9×13 at 375 for 22 min.