Intro to Fried Dough

 Ever wonder what to do with leftover pizza dough?

We had make-you-own pizza night not so long ago. As usual the kids had fun beating dough into submission with their fists, popping air bubbles, spreading sauce, picking toppings and throwing mozzarella around the kitchen. Looly, our resident artist, made this cute owl out of black olive rings and fresh basil.

All in all a good night, but in the morning we were left with a puffy ball of unused pizza dough in the fridge. Sure we could have made calzones for lunch or baked it into bread or crackers, but I had a better idea. I wanted to show to the kids how food can transform drastically depending on how you prepare it, thus illustrating my point that they shouldn't say they don't like a food after trying it prepared any single way. Fried dough, anyone?

Easy Fried Dough (from pizza dough)

1 pound pizza dough
Enough canola or vegetable oil to fill a large heavy bottomed pot about 1-2 inches (about 2 cups, depending on the size of your pot)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon

1. Heat the oil to 350 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Cut pizza dough into desired shapes. We made little doughnut holes and I rolled out some longer strips and fused the ends together to make mini doughnuts.
2. Drop dough (fry same size pieces together) in batches into the hot oil. Fry, turning occasionally until all sides are golden brown and the dough floats to the top of the oil. Remove fried dough from the oil and drain on several layers of paper towels.
3. Place powdered sugar in bowl. Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Toss the warm fried dough in desired toppings, which is the perfect job for helpful, hungry kids.

So, it's fried dough. It's warm and crispy and gooey and sweet and delicious. And my kids didn't like it. Well, most of them didn't like it. Looly deemed it too sweet and asked for a banana instead, though she did enjoy licking powdered sugar straight out of the bowl. Roo was not a fan. He is typically more of a salty kind of guy. Bean though, was nearly as big a fan as her parents, which is why we ended up throwing away half the batch while we could still save ourselves. Really good stuff. In moderation.