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.
Oh baby! YUM-O!
That last pic makes me a little weak in the knees!
BJUPress… Bob Jones?
Cheryl, yep Bob Jones. I used it for math for 1 year and got a great recipe for it
Now I’m hungry!!
MMMMM—love me some cheese and bread!
This looks a lot better than the tuna sandwich I just ate!
I am definitely making this in the next couple of weeks. I have everything but the meat.
Man that looks delicious! Even at 6:40 AM! Way to go on the pantry meals…I would not survive.
That looks yummy! I think I will try it Sunday night.
This looks awesome! Just a quick question – did you use rapid-rise yeast?
Leslie, I actually used Bread Machine yeast, but it says it’s “ideal for all rapid rise recipes”, so maybe it’s the same thing.
I LOVE calzones, but I’m not a fan of sausage. Surely pepperoni would work, wouldn’t it? It sounds delicious otherwise.
Joy, I think pepperoni would be great!
Why do my calzones not look like that? My family would love these with sausage, but I usually use pepperoni. We also use ricotta cheese, which adds to the leakage.
Ooooh, ricotta cheese sounds good!
I made these tonight for company and they were SOOOO YUMMY!!! Thanks for an awesome easy recipe! I added a little bit of garlic powder and onion powder to my dough to give it a little kick and then made some different calzones with different ingredients for everybody… sausage, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms, black olives… they were all yummy! Then I made a dipping sauce too! Definitely a keeper recipe!
Oh my gosh! These look so yummy. I know what we are having for dinner tonight.
Oh yum! I love calzones =) I wonder how well this would work with whole wheat flour? I am going to give it a try.
I could definitely use a good pizza crust recipe-thanks! I think the sausage would be too spicy for our family though. Maybe some nice spinach and feta with tomatoes on top~yum!
Looks SUPER YUMMY!
Smells good!. LOL Have a great SITS Day!
Wow, I just realized I am hungry! Sure sounds and looks good.
I’ll def be making these! Thank you!
H x
This looks so yummy!
I bet it’s the home made dough that makes this so tasty. Enjoy your SITS day!
Now that looks delicious! My kids will love it!
Looks good! I’m always looking for new ideas for dinner. I’ll be back.
Those look delicious! I tried making calzones the other day using leftover taco meat. I think they would have turned out but I used canned biscuit dough (because I had it on hand) and that wasn’t the right thing to use for the crust. Next time I’ll make pizza dough for the crust.
I am totally drooling over those pictures. I think I might try it with ground turkey…
HAPPY SITS DAY! Man that looks good. Haven’t had breakfast yet, and it’s not a good idea to look at that calzone on an empty stomach. Yum!
yeah. I’m hungry now. Happy SITS Day!
That recipe looks addictive…I’M SCARED!
Oh, wow! I think my picky husband would like these.
Oh my goodness! It’s 7 am and I’m drooling over the calzones. I have to make these. Thanks for the tute.
Sounds great!! Alivia will love helping with the dough:)
Yum…calazones are my favorite. I cheat though and use frozen dough.
I just got the sudden urge to make calzones tonight! Thanks for the recipe!
This one’s making me hungry!
Calzones are one of my favorite things. Your’s looks great.
These look delicious!
That looks very good. There was a time before kids, work & school that I used to make homemade pizza dough.
Yum! This recipe sounds delicious. Can’t wait to try it!
Looks good! I have been looking for a good pizza dough recipe.
holy moly. that does look good.
My family would love these. We do homemade pizza every saturday, when I’m not pregnant and in the first trimester. Right now we are doing frozen pizzas for movie night. Oh well.
Starving now. For calzones.
Happy SITS feature day!
Cooking with yeast terrifies me!!
Does the bread taste sweet with the sugar in it? It looks fantastic, I can’t wait to try it!
Mmmmm….I want one NOW!! Lol…happy SITS day!
Over from SITS:
These sound amazing!!! I will definitely make it soon!!
That looks soooooooooo yummy!!! I will have to try it.
Happy SITS Day!!
Well that just looks delish. I may lick my computer screen.
Happy SITS Day!
I swear the first thought that came into my head when I saw the pic was “holy crap, do those look good”. Not very eloquent, but heartfelt! lol