Garlic Knots, Rolls, & Pizza Crust

We still have roses and it's October.  I love knockout roses!

I finally found the perfect dough recipe!  I made 3 wonderous things from the batch and they are all pictured here.  I love the short rising time and the flavor of the dough.  Here's a link to the original recipe from the Cooking Channel.  I didn't change any of the ingredients, I just didn't make all of the dough into just rolls.

INGREDIENTS

3 (.25-ounce) packets active dry yeast

1 3/4 cups warm water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for brushing

2 teaspoons salt, plus more for sprinkling

2 large eggs, beaten

4 to 6 cups flour, plus more if needed

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the instant yeast, and warm water. Let it activate for 5 minutes until bubbly. Stir in the honey. 

3. On low speed, add 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 teaspoons salt, and eggs. Slowly add the flour cup-by-cup until fully incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. Add more flour if it is too sticky. 

4. Portion the dough into 24 even servings. Form the rolls into desired shape and place in a cast iron skillet or on a baking sheet spaced evenly apart. Set aside and allow to rise approximately 20 minutes, or until doubled in size. 

5. Bake for 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush with more melted butter, and sprinkle with a little salt. 

6. You don't have to use the whole batch for rolls if you don't want to.  It also makes great pizza crust and fancy things like garlic knots.  I might even try using it for cinnamon rolls.

1. Weigh out your .75 ounces of yeast or use 3 packets:

2. Add water & let it get all bubbly:

3. Add honey:

4. This how I melt butter without a microwave: a tiny little metal thingy from Ikea.  It is also how Corey heats up coffee and he gets mad when I melt butter in it. Ahem.

5. Add eggs, salt, flour and such and mix to finish up.  I've always needed all 6 cups of flour plus more for dealing with stickiness.

6. Have a puppy to lick up your spilled flour:

 7. Make garlic knots.  I used Penzeys Spices Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle with a bit of extra garlic powder:

8. I still had quite a bit of dough left:

9. So I pulled off little pieces and rolled them a bit in my hands.  Baking rolls in a cast iron pan makes them look fancier:

10. Let them rise:

11. Bake!  Mine went a bit crazy in the oven:

12. And still there was dough left.  So I put it in a bag and in the fridge.

13. And a few days later there was pizza! 

Well actually, I roasted a bunch of grape tomatoes & some broccoli in the oven, used up the last of the store bought alfredo sauce, shredded some havarti & smoked gouda, caramelized some onions, sprinkled some sandwich sprinkle (also from Penzeys Spices), and then there was pizza!