Stuffed Pizza Rolls

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough* (or make your own)
marinara/pizza sauce
2T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T olive oil or melted butter
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t dried Italian seasoning
mozzerella cheese, diced or grated
Pizza toppings of your choice: ie, ham and pineapple, pepperoni slices, sausage, etc.

*You can use regular pizza dough, or thin crust.

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package. Usually it's 400 degrees. If you make your own dough, 400 is usually a good heat as well.

Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough so it's about 12" by 12". Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 24 squares.

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square. (Note that you're not putting the marinara sauce on the dough- it's for dipping after). Just eyeball how much. You just need to be able to enclose the toppings in the dough so keep that in mind.

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings. Pinch to make sure each ball is sealed shut and then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).

Brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil or melted butter. Sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese (or desired seasonings).

Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

****
These were really labor intensive so I don't think I'll be making them again anytime soon. But they are darling. We're having some computer issues--I'll post pictures on some of my last few posts as soon as I can.

BBQ Chicken Bacon Pizza

Crust:
I used the whole wheat crust I posted last week.
Topping:
Throw 3-4 chicken breasts in the crockpot along with some bbq sauce and a large onion, sliced. 

When crust is rolled out, place on pizza:
~Thin layer of bbq sauce
~Chicken/onion mixture
~5 slices bacon, fried, cut up
~Lots of mozzarella cheese

Bake for 17 minutes.  YUM!
Update: This turned out GOOD!  I ended up making the whole wheat pizza crust I posted earlier....less work, and Nate liked it.  I also highly recommend using your crockpot for the chicken/onions.  The chicken wasn't dry at all and had so much flavor.  And the bacon definitely made the pizza....next time I'll add even more!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1 packet yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 tsp sugar
2 3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in a small dish with water and sugar.  Let sit for 7 minutes.

Mix together flour, oil, salt and yeast mixture.  Mix with dough hook for 5 minutes.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or so.  Roll out and cover with toppings.  Bake at 475 for 17 minutes.

**
I got this recipe from Nie's blog.  It turned out perfectly!  Tonight we made a Hawaiian pizza.

Pizza Night!

I have a couple of pizza dough recipes that I like--I haven't done a scientific taste test so I'm not sure which is my favorite. I'll post both and let you decide.

Pizza Hut Dough

1/4 c dry milk
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 t)
1 1/3 c water (105 degrees)
2 T oil
4 c flour

Put dry milk, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Let it stand for 2 minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead for 10 minutes (I don't usually make it the whole 10 minutes--you could also do this in a BOSCH). Divide dough into 3 equal balls. Cover the bottom of 3 9-inch cake pans with oil, spreading evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball. Place in cake pans. Spray outer edge of dough with cooking spray (I don't always do this). Cover with a plate, place in a warm area and let dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Top pizzas with desired toppings. Bake pizzas at 457 degrees for 10 minutes.


"Pizza Caterpillar"/Pizza Dough
I got this recipe from my neighbor in Fort Wayne. It's a stuffed pizza braid and my kids love it. They nicknamed it pizza caterpillar and request it all the time. It looks fancy and really isn't hard to make--it's fun! I also use this dough to make regular pizza. Tonight I doubled the recipe and made one of each.

3 1/4 cups flour, divided
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 t)
1 c warm water
1 T butter, melted

Mix 2 1/4 cups of flour with the sugar, salt and yeast. Stir in the water and butter. Mix in only enough of the remaining cup of flour to make a soft dough (I usually don't add much of it). Knead for 4 minutes (by hand or in a mixer).

To make pizza: roll out the dough on a pizza stone, top with desired toppings and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. (No rising time for this pizza dough)
To make pizza braid: roll out dough into a 10x14 rectangle on a greased baking sheet. Spread sauce down the center third of the dough. Top with a layer of pepperoni and cheese (or whatever you want--I've used sauce, olive oil, just cheese, etc). Make slices in the dough from the filling to the dough edges at 1-inch intervals. Fold the dough strips at an angle over the filling, alternating sides for a braided look (my kids love helping with this step). Brush the top with a beaten egg white (or olive oil) and sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 18-25 minutes at 400 degrees.