Doodle-ee-doo: September 2012

Our little Buddy is one of the happiest and most content little kids you'll meet! But about a year ago he gave us a good scare when we tried to feed him yogurt for the first time. It turns out that he is allergic to milk, among other things.

When we found this out, my husband was especially disappointed that Buddy wouldn't be able to enjoy foods like pizza. Growing up, his family made pizza from scratch on a regular basis and it was a staple in his bachelor diet.

Basically, the only thing in pizza that Buddy can't have is the cheese. However, we discovered that crumbled tofu is not half bad as a dairy-free substitution. Our homemade pizza crust was already dairy-free so pizza has become an easy family meal! Here is how we make it:

Pizza Dough:

1½ cups flour
1 tablespoon (or one packet) yeast
½ teaspoon salt

Mix all of these ingredients together and then add:

2 tablespoons oil
1 cup very warm water

Mix everything together until everything is well blended.

Lastly, slowly add another 1½ cups flour until the mixture becomes a dough and then knead it for a minute or two until it is springy!

I usually use my wonderful stand mixer with a bread hook for the last part... it makes the kneading so much easier!

Once the dough is kneaded, form it into a ball and put it in a bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover it loosely with a clean towel or washcloth and let it sit and rise. I try to let it sit for an hour, but sometimes we only have time to let it sit for 15 minutes or so...

When the dough has "doubled in size," or is trying to escape from your bowl, it has risen enough! Now it's time to punch it down and spread it out on your pan.

You can certainly use this dough in a normal sized pizza pan, (and top it with real cheese and whatever toppings you'd like) but for little Buddy we like to make little pizzas and muffin tins work great for this!