Not Healthy: Pizza/Calzone Dough Recipe 1

This recipe is off the beaten path but creates a really delicious dough that works well for pizzas and calzones. The crust is light and the recipe is very forgiving. It was originally a recipe I nicked off a calzone recipe somewhere but have used for pizza. It will make enough dough for 1-2 pizzas, depending on how thick and wide you prefer your pizzas. If you end up with more dough than you need for a pizza you can always roll out the remaining dough thin and bake it separate to create a nice flat bread you can use for sandwiches, breakfasts, etc.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red wine or white wine (your preference)
3/4 cup warm water
1 package bread yeast (approximately one tablespoon bread yeast)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups all purpose or bread flour (I prefer bread flour)

Equipment:

Measuring cups
Oven
Mixing bowl (preferably large)
Pizza pan or cookie sheet (can also use dutch oven or pizza stone)
Large kitchen spoon
Optional: stand mixer

Step 1: Combine wine, water, yeast and honey in a mixing bowl or stand mixer and stir until mixed. Add the salt and olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Add one cup flour and mix well until it starts to form a batter.

Step 2: Add remaining bread flour half a cup at a time and mix. You should have a solid dough ball. Knead the dough for 10 minutes by hand or with a stand mixer. The dough should be moist and tacky but not stick or ooze. If so, add a small amount of flour and continue to knead. Repeat as necessary until you have a firm but moist ball.

Step 3: Return to your mixing bowl and put in an unheated oven with the oven light on for 45 minutes. Alternatively, if your kitchen is warm you can place it in a warm place for 45 minutes. The dough should have doubled in size. You may only need half the dough for a pizza. If so, cut the dough ball in half (or whatever amount you need) and let rise for an additional 15 minutes.

Step 4: Shape the dough by rolling it out gently to the size of pizza you prefer. Add your pizza toppings as you prefer. While doing so, preheat your oven to 400. Once the oven is ready, heat for 12-15 minutes.

If you end up with extra dough, the best thing to do is roll it out like a thin crust pizza and bake for 10-12 minutes (or longer if it is still doughy) and then cut it up to make flat bread. You could toss out the remainder but in my opinion no need to waste perfectly good dough.

As a caution, if you choose to use red wine in the dough, as I like to, the dough will be a pink-purple color. It might alarm some people to see a funky colored dough but it will taste delicious in spite of the color. I prefer to use a Shiraz, Burgundy or Merlot. However, you could use a Chianti, Chardonnay, or really any other grape-based wine. I would probably stay away from anything with too strong of a fruity flavor or anything too chocolaty just because it might add some undesired flavors.

I'm also not a believer that you need to use high end wine in your food. When you cook wine you drive off a lot of the aromatics and delicate flavors that make quality wine taste better than a cheap bottle so you're paying to create a nice aroma while you cook but you're not going to taste a lot of it. I use jug wine for a lot of my cooking but I wouldn't reach for a bottle of Boone's Farm for cooking. If you're opposed to the jug wine for cooking, a $5 bottle is perfectly fine.