February 16, 2010

Easy Calzones

Easy Pizza Calzones
1 package yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115?F)
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour (to 3 1/4 c.)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup mushrooms -- thinly sliced
1 pound sausage -- cooked
1 cup pepperoni sausage -- thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 cups mozzarella cheese -- finely grated



For dough, dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in sugar, oil, salt and 1 c. of flour. Can add Essence spice, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, dill weed or grated Parmesan as desired to taste. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle (can do in food processor). Turn tough onto lightly floured surface and gently roll in flour to coat. Knead about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Cover with bowl and let rest for 5 minutes.



Roll into four 10" circles. Place sauce and topping mix over half of dough. Add 1/2 c. cheese. Fold over and crimp edge shut. Place on foiled and greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter after 15 minutes of cooking. Cook for a total of 25 - 30 minutes in a 375ºF oven or until golden brown. Makes 4.



**I know the recipe doesn't tell you to let the dough rise, but I let it raise until it was double in size, then I punched it down and then cut it into 4 sections.



**** We loved these. I really thought the dough was delicious. I was a little worried about it since the recipe almost seemed choppy or like something was missing. I chose to leave out the mushrooms and I didn't add Italian seasoning either because I used Italian sausage. I absolutely LOVED how easy these were. The dough took me about 5 minutes to make and then putting the calzones together took about another 10 minutes (including sausage-browning time). I recommend these for a quick, easy, weeknight meal :) ****

1 comments:

Melanie said...

Those were super easy and surprisingly very good. They were a huge hit at our house. So I like to make pizza. I usually use 1/2 mozzarella and 1/2 medium cheddar cheese, topped with Parmesan. So that's what I did with the calzones. Anyway ... I give these a thumbs up.