So it’s December… The season of gifts, giving, glitter, and GUESTS. We all want to impress our guests with great food, but don’t have the time to cook all day for them. This little tip takes your pedestrian lunch sandwich to the next level and allows you to IMPRESS without the STRESS… See that? I rhymed right there.

Regular old bread is for the birds (no but seriously, birds love bread) serve your house guests something warm and delicious… with store bought pizza dough! The greatest thing about store bought pizza dough is that NO ONE will ever be able to tell it was store bought AND  you can do a million things with it.

At the end of the day I want you to take one thing away from this post, and that is that pizza dough is super versatile… WAY past regular pizza with red sauce i.e.:

Make a flatbread– top raw dough with a generous spread greek yogurt and parm, then add prosciutto corn and mushrooms, bake until melted and golden brown and add some fresh arugula and a little drizzle of balsamic and honey reduction once it comes out.

Make a quick dessert!– top raw pizza dough with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon and bake. OR top with just melted butter, chocolate chips, (maybe a few marshmallows?)  and a sprinkle of sugar bake, and serve with nutella or peanut butter on the side to spread!

Make focaccia bread for sandwiches or breadsticks (which is what I did in this post)

Anywho, the possibilities are kind of endless, if you ask me, and I encourage you to tailor the dough to your specific entertaining needs! This sandwich is super simple so don’t judge me for not making  some super creative sauce and filling, I am really focussing on the bread in this one and the sandwich is pretty darn good to be honest!

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You will need [makes 4-6 sandwiches]:

For the bread:

1 package raw pizza dough – I find my pizza dough at Trader Joe’s, but you can even go to your local pizzeria and buy it from there. When I know I will have a lot of people staying with me or dropping in a lot I pick up a few bags of pizza dough and use when needed.

a sprinkle of flour

Olive Oil

Salt [I used JANE’S KRAZY]

Pepper

Cumin

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What I put in the sandwich-

Smoked Gouda

Peppered Turkey

Micro greens

Arugula

Sliced tomatoes

Avocado

A touch of mayo (for my husband)

salt [I used JANE’S KRAZY]

pepper

To make the bread, preheat your oven to 450 F (or whatever your package says) and put your pizza stone in to warm. Cover your counter with flour and lay out your dough. I let mine rest for 20 minutes.

Remove your pizza stone and place pizza dough on it. You don’t need to do a ton of stretching like you would with a normal pizza, you want this to bake up a bit fluffy.

Using your fingers, make indentations all over your dough.

Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a light sprinkle of cumin. Take a pastry brush and make sure the whole thing gets a little love.

Bake until golden brown and remove to cool. Once cool enough to handle cut the dough into 4-6 pieces and slice each piece in half (horizontally) to make a top and bottom slice. *** Here is an additional step I take that might seem like a bit of a hassle so feel free to leave it out. Once sliced, I return to the oven. I put the pieces face down on the rack and toast the bread until a slight crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Assemble your sandwiches.

And enjoy!