Rhodes workers come up with tasty creations

Rhodes International recently sponsored a recipe contest among its employees.

You would think that those who work around the dough on a daily basis would have already exhausted all the possibilities. But, as a judge, I was intrigued by a few new twists.

First-place winner in the savory category was an Easy Italian Pizza by Scott VanValkenburg. I'm sure a lot of folks already make pizza with bread dough. But in this case, the pan was spread with olive oil and herbs before the dough was placed on it. This added a lot of flavor.

And in order to keep the crust from being doughy, it was baked first before the toppings were added.

The sweet category winner, Almond Cream Cheese Squares, had a cinnamon-almond flavored cream cheese filling. Another entry used crumbled spice cake mix in a sweet roll. Here are two of the winners. More recipes will be posted on my blog, Flavors, at deseretnews.com, at 10 a.m. today.

I think any of these recipes could also work with your own homemade dough as well.

EASY ITALIAN PIZZA

18 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Italian seasoning to taste

8 ounces tomato sauce

1/2 cup feta cheese

4 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Your choice of toppings, such as pepperoni, sausage, olives, etc.

1 cup cheddar cheese

Spray counter lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the rolls into a ball and roll into a 13-by-18-inch rectangle.

Place olive oil in the bottom of a 12-by-17-inch baking pan. Rotate the pan so the olive oil coats the pan evenly. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Place dough in pan.

Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour. As dough rises, press it out to the corners of the pan. Remove wrap and prebake crust at 350°F for 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread tomato sauce evenly over crust. Sprinkle sauce with Italian seasoning. Sprinkle evenly with feta cheese. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over top of feta.