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.
Swinging by from SITS!
Happy SITS DAY!
Man those look amazing! I cant wait to make them for my WH!
You are a brave soul making everything from scratch. I don’t have the patience. It looks way yummy though.
I make calzones and freeze them all the time. But when the girls were small, I had a stack (still do) of Tupperware’s individual hamburger patty containers. I would make little individual raw pizzas (uncooked dough with toppings) in them and stack and freeze them. The containers are flexible plastic so you can give them a quick twist and the little pizzas pop out ready to cook. One was just the right size for a small child. They became so popular that I bought a second set of the stack. Best part is you control what goes on top. You can also make your own dough which means you can use whole wheat flour….which is better for the kids.
Yum, can’t wait to try this. I love the pics. Makes it easier for me to visualize:)Happy SITS day
These look delicious and I know my family would love them.
They look amazing!!
I’m visiting from SITS, congrats on being FB! This sounds and looks amazing!
It looks delicious!
I love this! I’m such a huge fan of calzones, but have always thought it’s a little to complicated for me (well, to be fair, it’s the dough aspect of it. It’s too close to baking!).
Thanks again!
Stopping by from SITS! This looks fantastic…my husband loves calzones and I’ve never tried making them! I can’t wait to try this recipe!!!!
Oh yum! The pics look wonderful, I’m drooling before 10 am here.
p.s. I added you to my Twitter (dddiva) so that I don’t forget to keep coming back for more.
These look so yummy!
this looks fabulous! my family would love it, thanks!
Love calzones! Happy SITS day!
These look so good!!! I always get nervous working with bread dough, but maybe I’ll make another go at it.
{peeking in from SITS}
My husband loooves sausage so we’ll have to try these. Congrat’s on being FB today at SITS.
I usually make homemade calzones with store bought pizza crust. I will definitely be trying out this recipe for dough
That looks so yummy!! stoping by from SITS! congrats on your SITS day
These look so good and simple!!!!
Trying it soon.
Happy SITS Day!!! These look so yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
These look D-vine! I will be trying them for sure! I am loving your site and gleaning lots and lots of ideas from you. Thanks for not being selfish and for sharing them with us!!
Hello from SITS!
These look mouth-wateringly delicious & would make my Italian husband oh-so-happy. If I can get myself inspired to cook, I’ll be back!
Oh my word does this look delicious!!
Those look fantastic!
What a great idea! And it looks fairly easy to make… maybe I could do it!
Happy Sits Day!
Looks great!
Yay! I love recipe sites! Great blog! I’ve got a good handful of yummy recipes on mine too, it’s http://www.oneshetwoshe.com
Mariel
Beauties! I just had lunch and my mouth is watering uhhhhhh get me some of these!!
This looks great. I’ll leave out the meat and make it vegetarian. Love that you use GV products. I always use the GV mozz and tom paste.
Pictures make me hungry, thanks for the recipe.
I make a ground chicken & basil calzone my family LOVES from Cooking Light magazine (my bible)
Visiting from SITS!
YUM
It’s noon here and I am starving! This looks so yummy!
Those look so good! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Happy SiTS day!
yumalicious, those look delicious. Thanks for sharing. Happy SITS day
This is great! Can the 2 1/2 cups of regular flour be substituted with whole wheat flour? If so, I’m making this tomorrow!!! Thanks!
NYC Mama, I’ve never tried to sub whole wheat flour. I think you might want to use whole wheat pastry flour to keep it from being too heavy. Let me know if you try. I’d like to know how it turns out.
YUM!
OMGosh!! That looks yummy!
I bet my DH would like these. We’d probably stuff ours with all kinds of other goodies though, like veggies.
Oh wow, my husband would absolutely love these! Thank you!
Geez! You have great recipes!
The husband will love this dish!
It’s got comfort food written all over it.
Thanks for sharing!
Happy SITS day!
Oh my yum!
ok, well it is dinner time, but yummmmmmm! i am totally craving a calzone, thank you!!
That calzone looks delicious.
mmmm i don’t think i should be looking at those pictures at dinner time!!
These look SO good. If I ever cooked, I’d totally make these.
That looks so delicious!
I haven’t found a decent gluten free pizza dough recipe yet (and for that much flour, the gf substitute just doesn’t do it), but as soon as I do, I’m going to give this a try!
Looks like its fun to make and you could get creative with the filling.
Those look so easy to make, and would be perfect for appetizers for the upcoming 4th of July! Happy SITS!