This week we decided to try out the homemade pizza dough recipe in the July issue of Cooking Light. We made the dough (super easy) and put one ball of dough in the fridge and one ball in the freezer.
Tuesday night we pulled out the ball of dough from the fridge and we made a pizza. Lots of spinach, ricotta, garlic, homemade tomato sauce, and some of our lovely grape/plum tomatoes from the garden. 
The crust was crispy on the bottom and sides and tender and fluffy on the inside. Tonight we decided to pull out the ball from the freezer and make some sausage and pepper calzone. We took the dough out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. We cooked the sausage and peppers and let them cool (slightly). We had our calzone shells rolled out and ready for their insides. After smearing them with a bit of tomato sauce we filled them with the sausage and peppers, ricotta, mozzarella and a smidge of parmesan. Then Scott crimped the edges of the first calzone and we were ready to move the other and that's when everything fell apart, quite literally. Our recommendation is to let the sausage cool completely and don’t try to move a calzone after you’ve made it.
Seems like a no-brainer, right? At the time we didn’t think it would be a problem, it was only after putting the somewhat warm insides on the thin dough that I realized we might have a problem. Either way we eventually pried the calzone off the counter and popped them both in the oven. They weren’t identical twins but you would never know it by taste.
Yield
2 crusts, 14 servings
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
- 1 1/4 cups cold water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 26.1 ounces (about 5 1/2 cups) unbleached bread flour, divided
- Cooking spray
Preparation
1. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Combine 1 1/4 cups cold water, oil, sugar, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon 24.9 ounces (about 5 1/4 cups) flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, yeast mixture, and cold water mixture in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low 8 minutes or until dough begins to form. Let rest 2 minutes; mix on low 6 minutes or until dough is smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 2 minutes); add enough of the remaining 1.19 ounces (about 1/4 cup) flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky).
3. Divide the dough in half, and place each portion in a large zip-top bag coated with cooking spray. Seal and chill overnight or up to 2 days. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before using.
Note: You can freeze the dough in heavy-duty, freezer-safe zip-top plastic bags for up to 2 months; thaw dough overnight in the refrigerator.
Diane Morgan, Cooking Light, JULY 2009