Ingredients
1 batch of pizza dough
cooked Italian (or fresh made) sausage
pepperoni
ham
roast beef
sliced swiss
sliced provolone
shredded provolone/mozzarella mix (50-50)
mushrooms, onions pepper, etc.
Directions
Start by following the directions for the pizza dough up until after the first rise, and you’ve punched it down. Cut the dough into six or eight equal pieces, depending on how big you want the calzones.
Tuck the edges under each piece and place them on a floured surface to rise a second time. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap so the dough won’t dry out and form a skin.
I was distracted and forgot to cover the dough with plastic. Keep this in mind, it comes up again later.
While the dough is rising, cook up the sausage. Make sure it is broken up pretty well.
The Italian market was out of the bulk sausage, but the patties they make are the same thing.
When the dough has doubled in size again, about 45 minutes, press each piece out with your fingertips into a rectangle.
Now you can start personalizing the calzones. First one gets a handful each of sausage and shredded cheese.
Leave room to fold the dough over and press the edges together. This one is a bit longer than it should have been. Keep it more square shaped.
Fold the edges over and press them tight all the way around.
The next one was a layer of pepperoni, then sausage and shredded cheese.
You can see that this one was more square shaped, so the finished calzone is a better shape. Not as much crust around the edge.
Next up was mushroom, then sausage and shredded cheese.
Then ham, sausage and shredded cheese.
First four are ready to go. Place them on a baking sheet dusted generously with corn meal to keep them from sticking. But how are you going to tell which one is which after they’re baked?
A little stenciling on the crust should do it: H(am), P(epperoni), S(ausage), M(ushroom).
Now how about some un-calzones? These are more baked sandwiches than calzones. First up is roast beef and swiss. Put the cheese down first.
Instead of just folding it in half, roll it up and pinch the ends.
Now ham and swiss.
Remember back when I said I forgot to cover the dough for the second rise? When I tried to press the dough out, instead of stretching evenly, the skin cracked and I got a ragged edge.
That didn’t keep me from filling it with Ham and provolone.
Bake at 500° for about 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. You can see the cheese leaked out in a few spots where I didn’t pinch the edges well enough.
So, did the little letters I cut in them survive being baked? P … S … M … H … there they are.
And the baked sandwiches (and one more peperoni and sausage calzone).
We were eating with the in-laws, so I needed some way to bring the finished calzones across the street. Fortunately we still had the box from the take-out pizza the girls had the night before.
And the finished product (by the way, these were much harder to shoot in the in-laws’ kitchen with just the overhead fluorescents). Sausage …
Mushroom and sausage …
Ham and sausage …
Pepperoni and sausage …
Ham and swiss (notice how it’s rolled up, not just folded in half) …
A little sauce for dipping …
… and dig in.
And that’s it.
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29 Comments
You are killing me softly with your pictures! Stop it!
Ok what is that cool little tool you have to break up the meat?
The Calzones look wonderful!!
Jenni, thanks a lot. Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head.
Kevin, that’s the Pampered Chef Mix N Chop. I didn’t want to admit to my wife that I liked it, but it works great.
I knew there was something I have been meaning to ask — and it came up again in this post. Do you work directly on a Formica countertop? I see you cutting dough with the pizza wheeland I’m wondering if it damages the surface. My countertop is so old and grody I wouldn’t even consider working off it, but when I have the dough (hahahahaha) to replace it, I’m wondering if Formica is sturdy enough for “from scratch” type cooking. I worry about messing it up. My last house, I remodeled and put in granit countertops. That was probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing, though.
Awesome! I love calzones, I make them all the time. My favorite (at the moment) is white sauce, broccoli and chicken.
Trixie: I work on my formica counter all the time. I wouldn’t chop vegetables or meat on it, but cutting the occasional piece of dough doesn’t harm it any. Well, not much anyway. Heh.
Yes Trixie, it’s formica. And Bob’s right, I wouldn’t chop or slice on it but the pizza cutter is fine. Eventually it will wear down if I keep working the same spot, but this counter is probably older than me and it’s not showing much wear yet.
Now those are some excellent calzones. I think I’d make mine a bit larger tho
I found that when I was making flatbread today (quite good with hummus!) that if I used a rolling pin I got a better square shape. But then when I let the dough plop out of the bowl, I had it shaped into a rectangle & cut the pieces from that. Less tearing!
MrOrph, I suspect if I covered the dough for the second rise, and they stretched better, I could make them larger with a thinner crust. Something to try next time.
Stephanie, rolling pin is probably the best idea for square. But I’m still practicing my pizza stretching. I want to be able to spin and toss. Just cause it looks cool.
Of course the tossing looks cool. I just wouldn't be able to do it well here because of the short ceilings and the collection of animals & children that seem to hover when I cook. Maybe one of them will learn how to cook, but I hope it's not the cat. She sheds too much.
that’s really cool, not bad.
Thinking I could make some for friends and relatives. Any tips for freezing/storing? Before baking? After?
These are definitely on my this week to-do list!
Sharon, these freeze pretty well. After baking them, brush off as much of the cornmeal as you can. It can get soggy and nasty when you freeze and reheat them. Wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap or foil.
If you’re going to be keeping them for more than a week or so — like if you make a big batch for lunches for a couple of weeks — put them all together in a zip-top freezer bag.
If you wrap in plastic, open the ends and microwave them for about a minute or two, depending on your microwave. If you use foil, unwrap and place the flattened-out foil with the calzone on top in the toaster oven set to 350.
This is one time you’re probably better off with the microwave. If you really hate nuked pizza crust you’ll have to either not freeze them, or let them thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating in the toaster oven.
You should use parchment paper with your bake wear, your pans would last a lifetime.
Linda, how well does parchment paper deal with cheese? I know it works for cookies but if I used it for pizza, or these calzones, wouldn’t the cheese stick to it pretty badly?
Great post! I’ll have to add this to my arsenal of game day food for people who all want different toppings on their pizza. Cheers!
E-rock, I actually like it for making a bunch of lunches in advance, so I don’t get bored of the same thing by the third day.
You can use parchment paper for anything, the cheese just peels off the paper. I’ve been using it for years.
How do you set up a profile?
Linda, what kind of profile are you asking about?
I just made these and they are baking in the oven… I will let you know how they come out! They looked delicious uncooked, so we’ll see… yum!
You should add some Italian Herbs to the dish. Juliet Mae Spices (online) makes a very good dry Italian herb blend.
Claire, any news on how they came out?
Anon, for me this was mostly about learning the technique. Now that I’ve got it I can add whatever flavors I want to them.
They look great little calzones.
I just did these, with a sort of chicken cordon bleu-esque mix, chicken, Canadian bacon and Swiss cheese. They came out well, but took quite awhile to make. I was thinking they'd be fantastic for leftovers–make the dough and then put your leftover roast chicken, veggies and gravy in there…oops, that's a meat pie…it would work, though, and it'd be good.
Ally, I always like new ways to use leftovers.
Hi Drew, I just read thru every single one of your recipes and now I'm late for work:)
But at least I know what to have for dinner. Thanks!
That can't be my Mom. I don't think she speaks emoticon.