Lazy Garlic Knots/Pizza Dough!

Presenting the ultimate lazy, (somewhat) mess-free garlic knots/pizza dough recipe! 90% of the work is done via zip lock bag! I've been meaning to post this for a while but time has just slipped away especially since I've rejoined the working force (yay income!) but to those who have been waiting for this post, thank you for your patience, it is here!

Most of the credit for this one goes to the caveman. We usually buy raw pre-made pizza dough from places like Trader Joe's or Safeway, well one night we wanted pizza but too lazy to go to the store... 'Duh!' why don't we just make our own?! What a concept right? We've tried to make everything else and yet making our own pizza dough was such a foreign concept! Inspired by a video of making Challah bread from a zip lock bag, we applied the same concept here. Somewhere in the process I had an epiphany and practically yelled "OMG! I want to use this dough to make garlic knots too!!" It was magical, the knots came out better than I envisioned...or *ahem* I meant to do that...

I am obsessed with this recipe. I've already made more batches than I can count. It's so easy, I'm never going to buy store bought pizza dough again! What's even more awesome is that because you make this in a zip lock bag, its already in a perfect storage container to be stowed away in the freezer if you don't feel like using it yet. **Note: it will continue to rise even if you put it in the fridge. If you want to store it in the fridge overnight, I'd suggest leaving an air gap in the zip lock so it doesn't explode otherwise, freezer is your best bet. 

Lazy Garlic Knots/Pizza Dough! 
adopted from King Arthur's Pizza Crust Recipe
Recipe makes 16 large garlic knots or 2 ten-twelve inch pizza dough (or a mix)!
Ingredients:

• 2 tsp yeast (or 1 packet is okay which is a little over 2 tsp)
• 2 shot glasses of hot water (~ 1/8 of cup)
• 1 tsp sugar (or a couple of large pinches)
• 1 cup of warm to hot water
• 1 tsp of salt
• 3 cups of flour
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 large zip lock bag (freezer 1 gallon)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour +/- for dusting
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil (to brush the knots before baking)
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 4-5 tbsp butter (or a mix of olive oil + butter)
• 3-4 tbsp parsley, chopped or dried
• salt/ground black pepper for taste
• 3-4 tbsp of Parmesan cheese   

Procedures:

1. Proof the yeast: place yeast, sugar, shot glasses of water into zip lock bag. Make sure its all mixed, should be water-y. Close bag, let it set for 15 minutes. Should see some bubbling action when you return.
2. Make the dough + rise: once the yeasts are ready for action, mix salt into 1 cup of water, pour into the zip lock bag with yeast mixture, add oil, and then flour. Close bag. Mash the contents of the bag until everything seems to be well mixed but try to keep everything towards the bottom of the bag. Once the inside of the bag is a gooey mess, its good. Let out any extra air from in the bag. Place the bag in a warm water bath for 1 hour, flipping it over every 30 minutes. This will help the dough rise. 
3. After an hour remove bag from water bath, wipe off excess water. Mash the bag a couple of times to work the dough a little and let out any extra air. Let the bag sit on the counter for 40 more minutes, flipping it over at the halfway point. If the bag gets extra poofy, let some of the air out.
4. To remove the dough from the bag, open the bag and toss in about 1/4 cup of flour. Slowly try to coat the wet dough with the fresh flour until you can slide the dough out of the bag. Place onto a flour dusted counter top or large cutting board. 
5. Knead dough with about 1/4 cup of additional flour for about 2-3 minutes just until its no longer super sticky. Smooth out the dough by rounding the sides and tucking the edges underneath towards the center until the dough is in a round shape. 
6. Flatten dough slightly and cut dough in half. You may use this as a pizza dough at this point and flatten it or continue by cutting the half into half again. Then slightly roll the dough out to about 6 inches long and cut into 4 pieces. Do this for the other half of the dough. You should have 16 pieces. 
7. Take one of the 16 pieces and roll it out until its about 12 inches long. Then take one end and bring it up to meet the other end and pinch together but still keeping the 2 strands separate then start twisting until it coils in on itself and produced a knot. Pinch the ends together so the knot doesn't come apart. Repeat. 
8. Place knots on a greased baking sheet. Brush a light layer of olive oil on top of the knots then bake at 425F for 10-12 minutes or until the knots turn golden brown
9.  To make garlic butter: place chopped garlic, parsley, butter/oil, and some salt & pepper in a microwavable bowl. Microwave for 20 secs, remove, stir and return to microwave for an additional 20 secs. Stir in Parmesan and set aside.
10. Once knots are baked and removed from the oven, immediately top knots with garlic butter or toss knots + garlic butter together in a large mixing bowl until they become coated.