Ingredients:
1 kg all-purpose flour
1 pint tepid water
1 ounce fresh yeast or 3 packets dried yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
sea salt
extra flour, for dusting
pick a selection vegetables ( zucchini, black olives, mushrooms, hot peppers, spinach and onions are all good)
cooked meat ( parma ham, pepperoni, sausage)
1 mozzarella cheese, ball ripped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup tomato sauce
assorted fresh herbs or dried herbs ( oregano, basil, italian seasoning)
extra virgin olive oil, for brushing
fresh ground black pepper
salt
Directions:
Start by making the bread.
Put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
Grind some sea salt in the flour.
Separately, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the tepid water.
Pour the water mixture into the well and use a beater with dough hooks to mix until you have a ball of dough and all the water is absorbed.
At this point, I usually find my little hand mixer hasn’t been able to mix all the flour into the dough so I pour out the loose flour bits onto the counter and use that as my base for kneading.
Otherwise, sprinkle a little extra flour on your counter.
Plop the dough onto the floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.
Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and allow it to proof in a warm, moist, draught-free place until doubled in size, about half an hour.
My experience has been that an oven (warmed by being turned on for just a minute and then switched off again) is the best place for rising dough.
Meanwhile, chop and mix all the ingredients for the filling.
When the dough comes out, after rising, preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
Roll into balls, using flour for dusting.
Then roll into little frisbee shapes just over 1/4-inch (0. 5 centimeter) thick.
Spread tomato sauce of the surface of the dough (just lightly, you don’t need a lot), place a good spoonful of your filling into the middle of each along with some chunks of mozarella cheese and a bit of parmesan.
Add your herbs too.
Season with salt and pepper before brushing the edges with a little water and then folding the rounds in half, pushing their edges to seal.
Dust with flour, do the same with all the others and move to a flour-dusted baking tray.
Brush tops with olive oil.
Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then score the top of the bread to allow your filling to bubble over when cooking.
Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes, until golden and scrumptious-looking, and allow to cool.
Servings: 8
Time preparation: 40 min.
Time total: 60 min.