In all the years I have been baking I have always stayed away from making my own pizza dough (or any bread for that matter). I think I may have tried it once & failed, so since then whenever we have home-made pizza it's always on a pita-bread base. But last weekend I had an afternoon to fill so I decided to give it another go. I chose the Spinach & Tofu Calzones from Vegan Planet. The recipe uses a traditional pizza dough and a pretty standard spinach & tofu 'ricotta' mix.
I was so surprised at how easy it was to make the dough! I checked it about 10 times during the hour that it was rising & was so excited to see it getting bigger, then when it was time to roll it out I was like a little kid. It was just like the dough I see in pizza shops - smooth & stretchy & beautiful! So, I think I'm a convert to home-made pizza dough now... it's just a shame you need to leave it for that hour, because it pretty much means I'll never be able to make it on a weeknight.
Now for the Calzones themselves. Firstly - they were huge! The recipe said to split the dough in half & make 2, so that's what I did. I think next time I'll split it into 4 (or maybe even 6). The dough cooked beautifully though - all golden & crispy, just the way I like it.
D & I both found the filling a bit bland. It needed a fair amount of sauce to make it interesting. Next time I will probably use the tofu 'ricotta' recipe from The Vegan Table, which I have previously made here.
They look great! I tend to make up pizza dough & freeze it after it has risen because then you can just thaw it & it is ready to go for a quick meal.
ReplyDeleteglad you have discovered a loveable pizza dough - I have tried quite a few and most are great but found my nemesis recently - my fault because I didn't add enough moisture - but I also freeze dough like vicki which makes it quick after work
ReplyDeleteThe recipe does say it can be frozen but I wasn't sure if the dough would still work as well after thawing out. I guess I'll give it a go & compare results!
ReplyDeleteAhaha yes I've made Robin's pizza dough before, I have this great photo somewhere of the bowl of risen dough with my fist print in it. XD (Well it did say to punch the air out of it!)
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