mmmmm, mondays: easy italian calzone

i am loving my pizza obsession. here's an easy twist on your typical pizza. a calzone prepared in five minutes? i'll take it!

easy italian calzone

pizza dough

one package sandwich salami slices

1/2 cup black or kalamata olives

1 cup roasted red peppers (jarred and marinated works perfectly)

2 bags shredded cheese (italian cheese blend with fontina, mozzarella, parmesan, & other cheese)

olive oil

cut the salami into small, bite size pieces. chop or slice olives. chop the roasted red peppers into bite sized chunks. in a large bowl, place olives, salami, peppers and cheese. drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and mix until well blended. roll out pizza dough onto a rimmed jelly roll pan (olive oil is horrible smoking from the bottom of a hot oven.) pour all the ingredients onto one side of the pizza dough. pull the pizza dough over the ingredients. pinch the edges of the dough to deal calzone. cut slits in the top of the dough. drizzle lightly with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. slice and enjoy!

mmmmm, mondays: homemade pizza dough

i'm obsessed with homemade pizza lately. i can't seem to get enough of it and the more recipes i try, the more i'm hooked. if you are going to make your own pizza and don't feel like buying the refrigerated pizza dough fantastically made by pillsbury, here are two dough recipes to try. come back for the next couple of weeks for my favorite pizza treats...

if you have a bread maker, here's my favorite bread machine recipe:

bread machine pizza dough

4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 3/8 cups water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

add all the ingredients into the bread machine. set to the "dough" setting. once dough is finished, pat the dough into a 12 x 15 inch jelly roll pan. if you like thin crust pizza, this can be divided into two smaller, thinner pizzas. if you want a thin crust pizza, precook your pizza dough for 5 minutes at 400 degrees before adding toppings and baking. if using the dough for one large pizza, top with your favorite toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

if you don't have a bread machine, this recipe is just as good.

easy homemade pizza dough

1 package active dry yeast

5 oz. warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups all purpose flour

add yeast to the water. add spices and stir until the yeast is dissolved. add 1 cup of flour. mix. work the rest of the flour into the mixture. spread over a pizza pan or a jelly roll pan. add toppings. let set in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

enjoy!