Pizza Crust

Here is the recipe for pizza crust that I used for the pepperoni rolls below. Its from my friend Cate, and is so good! Head on over to Cate's blog and wish her son Eli a happy one month birthday! He is such a cute baby. Ok, on to the recipe...

Easy Whole Wheat Pizza Crust:

1 TBS yeast

1 cup water (105 to 115 degrees F)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 TBS oil

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour (or any combination of wheat & white)

**Cate recommended adding a few tablespoons of Italian seasonings and/or garlic salt….so I did both!

1. Heat water to correct temperature –between 105-115 degrees
2. Dissolve the yeast in the water for a few minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined. (or just mix in your mixer)
4. Knead for 5 minutes, adding flour if necessary to make it smooth and elastic. (Again, if you are using a mixer, just use your dough hook)
5. Roll out into circle (1/2 inch thick or thinner) on pizza stone or greased pan. (Personally, I think the thinner the better- that way the dough will definitely be cooked through)
6. Top with favorite toppings
7. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Pepperoni Rolls

I made these on Monday night and they were great! The recipe comes from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures and is also below. She links to a different pizza crust recipe than what I used, but I have made the one she mentions and it is good too!

Ingredients:
Ingredients for desired pizza dough
8 oz part skim mozzarella cheese
1 pouch pepperoni, de-greased 30 sec in microwave (like bacon, layer with paper towels)
Marinara sauce for dipping


-Make pizza crust according to directions and roll out into rectangular shape, I did mine pretty thin so it would cook faster
-Place pepperoni on top, I only used about 2/3 of a pouch of pepperoni because it made a single layer with that amount
-Sprinkle evenly with cheese
-Roll up along the long side and cut, mine made 18 rolls
-Bake on cookie sheet, cut side down (you may need to secure some with toothpicks)
425 degrees for about 15 minutes (make sure the dough cooks all the way through)

We thought these were really good! I used turkey pepperoni to lower the fat, but I didn't de-grease it...I probably should have though. I think 3-4 rolls is a good, filling serving size, so I guess this would serve about 4 (especially if it was 2 guys and 2 girls). Enjoy!

Deep Dish Pizza 'Casserole'

This is what I made tonight, and it was great! We ate it while watching the new season of the Biggest Loser, which is our favorite!! Thankfully, this is pretty healthy so we didn't have to feel bad about eating it while watching the show :)


Ingredients:

1 lb ground round (I used ground turkey)

1 10oz can refrigerated pizza dough

1 15oz can tomato sauce

6 1oz slices part skim mozzarella cheese



Brown meat, drain. Add tomato sauce and cook until heated through. Grease 9x13x2" dish and press pizza dough into bottom and partially up the sides. Line dough with 3 slices mozzarella. Top with meat mixture. Bake uncovered at 425 for 12 minutes. Top with remaining 3 slices mozzarella and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.



Nutritional Info: 6 servings, each serving has 277 calories, 7.7g fat and 1.6g fiber

Enjoy!

Calzones

Tonight, I made calzones using Pillsbury crescent 'recipe creations'. These are sheets of crescent dough without the perforations so they are easier to use for things other than rolls. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked itself, so I combined a few and it turned out pretty well. I laid out one sheet of crescent dough, then spread out a layer of pepperoni, leaving about a one inch border on all sides. Then I added 3 slices of provolone cheese and about 1/2 c of shredded mozzarella cheese. I topped with another sheet of crescent dough, and fluted the edges with a fork. I baked at 375 for about 17-18 minutes.

Both Bart and I really liked these, although I will definitely add more filling next time. I think doubling up the layers would make a big difference, and potentially adding ground beef. We dipped the calzone pieces in warm spaghetti sauce.

I also baked quite a few other things today, since I was working from home and had no work to do, but I will post those separately.

Happy New Year!

Homemade Pizza

Sorry I have been MIA lately...its been a combination of too much work/training and not very much cooking, or at least not cooking things worth posting about! Last week I did make a pizza from scratch, and it turned out pretty well. I used the pizza crust from All Recipes called Jay's Signature Pizza Crust. See the link below.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jays-Signature-Pizza-Crust/Detail.aspx

I used half whole wheat flour, so at the very least it seemed a little bit healthy. I used my bread machine to make the crust so it wasn't quite as ambitious as the recipe looks. Its definitely worth trying!