Topic: Homemade Calzones

[landofoz]

Calzones:

Pizza Crust: 
2 1/2 to 3 Cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Package Regular or quick active dry yeast
3 Tablespoons olive or veggie oil
1 Cup Very Warm Water

~~~~or you could buy refrigerated pizza crust things, in a can~~~~

Cheese, pizza sauce, Mushrooms, Olives, Pepperoni (best if cut a little smaller), sausage, hamburger, peppers, onions, whatever tickles your fancy.
Egg, beaten


Mix 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl.  Add oil and warm water.  Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.  Stir in enough remaining flour until dough is soft and leaves sides of bowl.  Place dough on lightly floured surface.  Knead 5 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375

Cut dough into 6 sections.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface or parchment paper into a circle.  Top half of rolled dough with pizza ingredients of your choice, being sure to leave a half inch around the edge uncovered.  Fold over untopped half and seal edges.  Brush tops with beaten egg.  Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

[Tina]

Hmmmm, I could do these in my defective oven. I would have to turn them over in the middle of the cooking. But I could do it. I bet Jonni would love them.

[patches]

Geesh, maybe I'm missing something here, but I've never had a Calzone.    Is it anything like a double-crust pizza?   

[Tina]

Yes, a sealed double crust pizza, Patti. Not as new as people think they are either. They travel well for picnic-y type things too. They reheat well on a grill also.

[patches]

Tina, I can't believe I've never heard of them. Are they something you would find on an Italian menu?     Geesh, I used to go over to "The Hill", in St. Louis, all the time because I only worked about 10 blocks from there, but that was many, many  years ago.  At that time, I think we had checked out all the restaurants several times. I still go over there a couple of times a year.  Of course, I always go to the place that has this awesome Italian sub sandwich,  so I don't even bother to look at the menu, because I know that's what I'm going to get.     

[Tina]

I love meatball subs the best, Patti. Calzones are very Italian. But they are gaining popularity in the US fast.

[patches]

Well, years ago, when we were checking out all the Italian restaurants I guess they didn't have them.  Now when I go over there it's always during the day, so I just go to Amighetti's to get their Special sandwich.  It's made with ham, roast beef, Genoa salami, brick cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, pepperoncini and secret recipe Amighetti's dressing on their freshly baked Italian bread. 

[duh]

thanks for the recipe.  

hum hum hum hum hum hum

[landofoz]

These also freeze well.  I will usually make a double batch and freeze one after they have cooled completely.  Then it takes about 1 minute in the microwave to reheat.

I've heard them called pizza turnovers.  I know that papa murphys and Pizza Hut have calzones.  The commercial for Pizza Hut irritates me to no end for some reason.

[patches]

Sarah,LOZ, do you just sprinkle the ingredients lightly over the dough like you would on a pizza or is it spread on thicker to compensate for all the dough?   

[Triss]

These would make great appetizers for holiday parties.  Thanks Sarah!

[landofoz]

I dump all my ingredients onto the calzone and it is thicker than what I'd do to a normal pizza. 

Triss, you may want to make them much smaller if serving for appetizers. 

[Triss]

I was thinking of cutting then into quarters and then arranging different kinds on a tray.

[patches]

Geesh, Triss, I really don't think I could make appetizer size with all the toppings I use on my "Super" pizzas.   When I was pregnant with my daughter, after I weighed in at my doctors appointment, we would go to this Italian restaurant by his office and order what they called a "Super" pizza.    It had hamburger, Italian sausage, pepperoni, fresh bacon, Genova salami, ham, mushrooms, green pepper, red onions, fresh tomatoes, black olives, green stuffed olives, pepperoncina, anchovies and lots of mozzarella cheese on it, so this is what I usually have on my pizzas.  The only exceptions would be the ham (which I will use if I have some on hand, but I'm not that fond of ham), and I only use the to fresh tomatoes when they are in season and have that fresh tomato taste.   Of course, we also went there when I was pregnant with my son.      

[Triss]

Well those sure would be big ones Patti.  I was thinking of sticking more to the basic pepperoni.

[Tina]

Pepperoni is Jonni's favorite. John and I do the whole garbage pizza thing w/o anchovies.

[patches]

John and I do the whole garbage pizza thing w/o anchovies. 

Hmmm, I don't know how to take this, because I think the "Super" pizzza is out of this world, and it's anything but garbage!!!

Tina, you're one of the few people I know that likes anchovies.  None of my friends will touch them, but, yet they will eat a Caesar salad.     

[Tina]

w/o in that sentence above means without. I actually don't mind them but John just doesn't do fish for the most part.

[patches]

Well, Tina, I love fish, but I think the only reason I got to loving anchovies is because I first tasted them on the Super pizza and they seemed to add something special to it. 

[landofoz]

I love anchovies.  Most pizza places here don't carry them anymore, which is somewhat irritating.  But Papa Johns usually has them which is nice.  I don't like Pizza Hut anyway.  You know how they cook the pizza?  They float it in a vat of oil.  Papa Johns uses this thing called an oven to cook theirs.

I love the sounds of that pizza, patches.  It sounds Great! 

And I think the little mini pizzas would make for a great appetizers. 

[patches]

I know what you mean Sarah/LOZ, because most of the pizza places around here don't have anchovies you can get added on your pizza.  Of course, I've found that if you order a pizza in most of the nice restaurants, they usually have them on hand.