Homemade pizza and stromboli

[mommaof3]

Here is how I make the dough: (adapted from Jay's Pizza crust on Allrecipes)

* 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (I use one package of Fleischman's)
* 1 rounded teaspoon brown sugar
* 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (more or less to your taste, dough is not salty at all.
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 1/3 - 4 cups all-purpose flour


Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 3 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it. (this makes enough for 2 pizzas on jelly roll pans, or one pizza, one stromboli, or 2 strombolis)
5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.

For sauce, canned contadina is good straight from the can, or Furmano's canned sauce, (but with a teaspoon of sugar added to it to cut the bitterness.) I have yet to make my own!

Ok, for pizza cheese I use a blend of 50/50 shredded mozzerella and shredded american cheese. Awesome topped with pepperoni!

For stromboli....

Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Top with thinly sliced ham and pepperoni to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Arrange 4-5 slices american cheese down the center of the dough. Carefully roll stromboli (long end to long end) and place onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. Seal dough seams with a beaten egg, brush remaining beaten egg over out remainder of stromboli. Sprinkle outside with italian seasoning (I use McCormick's Italian seasoning grinder, it has garlic, red pepper and rosemary in it in addition to basil and oregano-yum!) Bake this in the oven at 400 for about 25-30, until golden brown. Let rest at least 10 min before slicing so the cheese won't run out.


Your house will smell like a pizzeria!! Good luck!

[Rooster]

yum! We make homemade calzones similar to this. When you pull it out of the oven, you can brush it with some olive oil & sprinkle w/ parmesan...smell delicious, makes a mess!

[Coupon_Queen]

I never have success with yeast. I don't know how warm I'm supposed to get the water. Do you use hot tap water or do you microwave it? I have tried using a candy thermometer before since I didn't have a meat thermometer and it didn't register anything.

[mommaof3]

I never have success with yeast. I don't know how warm I'm supposed to get the water. Do you use hot tap water or do you microwave it? I have tried using a candy thermometer before since I didn't have a meat thermometer and it didn't register anything.

Honestly, I don't use a thermometer, I just do it by touch. I have one of those upright water tanks with hot water, cold, and lukewarm in it. I put 3/4 c hot water, add about 1/4-1/3 cup cold, and the rest lukewarm...(just approx) and I feel it. It should feel warm to the touch, not hot. I think it cools off really quickly in the bowl, so I make it a tad warmer than I think it should be. If you're not into making dough (which I practiced multiple times...it gets easier, trust me!) you can always by pre-made frozen dough at your grocery store. Sometimes they have it fresh already thawed ready to use as well. It's usually really good.

[Coupon_Queen]

I tried making sticky buns using yeast and the dough doesn't really rise. I see all the yeast dissolve so I'm assuming I had the right water temp., but maybe I'm mixing it too much?? It seemed tough and didn't rise very much.

[mnm'z]

^^ I seem to have a problem getting yeast dough to rise properly, too. The ONLY way that I can is to place the dough in the oven to rise. It seems that the air temp in my house is too cool and it'll cause the dough not to rise.

[mommaof3]

The more flour you add, the heavier the dough. To make the dough rise, you need to do a few things. The first thing is to make sure the yeast is fresh, if it is old, it may not work. The next step is to activate it, which mixing with the sugar and warm water and letting it sit for 10 min. accomplishes. If the yeast is working, it should look rich and creamy and smell yeasty. The third, is let it rise in a warm area. I usually put my broiler on in my oven for a min or two (takes a min. before it even turns on) so that the oven is warm but not hot. (my house is set at 60 degrees!) I cover the dough with a damp towel to keep the dough moist. An hour later my dough is usually twice the size!!

OK, then another thing to remember so you get nice fat bread, rolls, pizza dough, whatever...let the dough sit for another 15 min (or longer if you have it- but throw the damp towel back over it so it doesn't dry out) BEFORE baking...give it a chance to puff back up after you've been wrestling it into whatever shape you'd like.

And like any recipe...PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Before I had my party, I was making pizza every week to tweak the recipe here and there...through trial and error you get the feel for how much flour to add, how to work the dough, how thick to roll it, etc. Good luck!

Oh, and my friend just made homemade pizza last night...she used a different canned sauce, it was a yellow can, I think it's called pepito's or pepino's? It was very good, too...more tomato-y. She topped her pizzas with very sharp cheese, feta, parmesan, fresh onion, and bacon. Yum!

[mommaof3]

yum! We make homemade calzones similar to this. When you pull it out of the oven, you can brush it with some olive oil & sprinkle w/ parmesan...smell delicious, makes a mess!

sounds yummy!! How do you make the filling?