Herb Crust Veggie Pizza or Calzone

This has become a staple in our house. The dough is chewy and flavorful and is ready to use right after mixing! The toppings are obviously endless, but this is what we did today.

Trust me. FRESH mozzarella.

Dough:


~1 cup warm water
~1/4 cup milk
~1 1/2 tsp sugar
~1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) dry active yeast
~3 cup flour
~1 tsp salt
~2-3 tbsp of dried herbs, IE oregano, basil, and parsley
~ 2 tbs garlic powder

Cornmeal for dusting

Toppings:

Pizza sauce (recipe below)
FRESH mozzarella. (This makes ALL the difference)
Veggies, we used green, yellow, and red bell pepper slices, thin asparagus, and mushrooms
Garlic salt

Proof the yeast in the water, sugar, and milk for 10 minutes.

Combine with flour, salt, and seasonings in a mixer bowl and mix with dough hook on med until starting to come together, then lower speed to "2". Once dough has become one large ball, let machine knead for about 5 minutes.

Put on floured surface and divide in half. You can either make two 10-12" pizzas, or place in ziplock bag with all air removed and store in fridge for one week. I am sure you can freeze it as well.

Roll out to about 1/4" thick.

If you have a pizza peel (paddle) and baking stone:

Place cornmeal on pizza peel and place dough on it. Put toppings on and slide into a 500 degree preheated oven onto the baking stone. Cook 12-17 minutes or until its as brown and crispy as you'd like


If you just have a baking sheet:

Preheat oven to 450. Dust sheet with cornmeal and put dough on top. Pre bake dough in the oven for 7 minutes. Dough will poof up.

Remove from oven and push down on the bubbles a little. Put toppings on and return to oven for 10+ minutes

Calzones:

Place toppings (minus sauce) on one half of the dough, leaving about 1 inch of free dough around the side. Pull opposite side over and pinch together and roll up. Brush with melted butter and cook until golden brown. 12-17 minutes (or more if you don't use a stone)



Pizza Sauce:

1 6oz can tomato paste
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp minced onion
1 tbsp balsamic
2 garlic cloves, minced

Mix together and simmer until ready to serve. Add a little water if its too thick.