Sausage and Mozzarella Calzones with Homemade Pizza Crust

Oh, yeah.  These were good.  Meaty, cheesy and full of flavor.  I made them last week during the challenge to eat from the pantry and freezer.  I guess you could say they were inspired by ingredients I had on hand and a desire to eat calzones.

Here’s what you’ll need for the filling:

1 lb. sausage (or use ground beef)

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can tomato paste + 1 can water

basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

mozzarella cheese, the amount depends on how cheesy you like it.

Brown the sausage with the onion and garlic.  Drain the grease.  Add the other ingredients and combine them well, letting them heat together for a few minutes.

For the crust you’ll need:

I found this recipe in a BJUPress 1st Grade Math book several years ago.  I altered the amounts a bit.  The amounts I list here will make 1 pizza crust.  For these calzones, I doubled it to get 2 crusts.

For 1 crust:

1 pkg dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

1 cup warm water

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbs. oil

2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Stir in the other ingredients (I used a stand mixer with a dough hook for this step.) Beat the ingredients until well mixed.  Let the dough rest 5 minutes. 

Now it’s time to assemble the calzones.  I decided to make 2 giant calzones instead of several smaller ones.  I did however make one mistake.  See if you can spot it in this picture.

Do you see my mistake yet?  I rolled out half of my dough (remember, I doubled the dough recipe) on the counter.  Spread half the meat mixture onto one side of the dough and add the cheese.  Fold the dough over the top and lift the whole thing up onto a baking stone or lightly greased cookie sheet.

Now, you know my mistake.  I would have taken a picture of it but I had dough, meat and cheese all over my hands.  Hot meat placed directly on unbaked dough creates a sticky mess.  Nearly impossible to lift onto a baking stone.  I did manage it, but it made for a pretty ugly calzone.  I was smarter with the next one.  I rolled the dough on the counter and transferred it to the baking sheet before filling it.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I’m guessing it might take a shorter amount of time if you make smaller calzones. 

These wouldn’t have won any beauty contests, but they tasted wonderul.  We had a whole one left for the next day’s lunch.  I just heated it in the oven.  It was crunchier than the night before, but every bit as wonderful.

Tagged as: Italian, mozzarella, pizza crust, sausage, yeast