This is a really easy recipe that my wife showed me and now we take advantage of almost weekly. It is for a calzone, which for those who don't know is like a rolled up pizza pocket thing.

First buy some frozen pizza dough. It typically comes in a package of four or five loaves or rolls to a bag.

Thaw a roll in a plastic bag (left open a bit) starting the morning you plan to make them. The thawing process usually takes about 8-12 hours. Expect the dough to be bigger than when you left it. If you leave it out too long it will be very fluffy and a little more difficult to work with. 1 roll will make 2 calzones.

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees Farhenheit. Strange temp. I know but it seems to work well for us.

Take the dough out of the bag and split it in half.

Flour the crap out of something large and flat. We used the countertop, but a big cuttingboard would work. Flour your hands and a rolling pin if desired.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle about an eighth of an inch thick. This part can be frustrating due to the dough not wanting to stretch sometimes, it's worth a flip half way through to work the dough a bit. Mine typically end up about a foot long by 8 or so inches wide.

Take a fork and jab the dough about a billion times. This should help it keep it's shape a bit and remove a fair amount of the air that is in the dough.

Take some mozzarella cheese and lay a good helping in the middle of the dough, then add any other pizza-ish ingredients you like. (Mine are usually pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, bacon, sausage, oregano, garlic, onion, crushed red pepper, parmesian cheese.) I do a layer of cheese then a layer of meat or other stuff, then another layer of cheese, then more meat/spices or whatever. EDIT- I cook the bacon and sausage most of the way before putting it on. I take no responsibility for your food bourne illnesses.

Take a long side of the dough and gently stretch it out and fold it almost to the middle of your toppings, repeat on the other long side. It doesn't hurt to press the toppings and dough down a bit at this point to make the next step a bit easier.

Take the short side of the dough and roll it towards the other end about a quarter of the way, then while holding all toppings inside the little pocket you are creating roll it completely over all toppings the rest of the way, similar to a burrito.

Next put some aluminum foil on a big cookie sheet and grease it. We use a Pam style buttery spray, but olive oil works well too. Put your unbaked, rolled up calzone in the middle of the cookie sheet (We use 1 cookie sheet per calzone, they will expand some. Depending on how you roll yours up you could probably fit 2 per sheet, but you probably don't want them baking and fusing together.)

Pour a small amount of olive oil on top of the whole works and brush it out to cover the entire calzone, any surface you see make sure it's coated.

Cut a few slits in the top of the calzone being careful to not cut too hard or the dough will get goofy on you.

Add anything to the top to make it pretty (I do more oregano, parmesian cheese and crushed red peppers)

Jam it in the oven on a middlish rack for 20 minutes and check it occasionally. In my oven they typically take about 25 minutes but your oven results may vary, beware.

They should be a nice golden brown when done, and not feel at all doughy to the touch. They'll be kinda hard on the outside.

Pull out of the oven and enjoy. We dip ours into spaghetti sauce to add a little liquid to it. I have disliked pizza sauce inside the calzone but you may love it.

I hope this recipe works well and brings your families much dinnertime delight like it does ours. If I was unclear about anything let me know!

Love your visual discription!! I make mine pretty much the same way but I only jab 1/2 million times

* * * *


Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up!
http://photobucket.com/albums/e374/2thtek/

I haven't had a good Calzone since I moved to Maine.

Thanks for this recipe; I can't wait to try it!!

I'll let Maxi do the counting, though. 5th graders like that sort of thing.

Merme

* * * *



"In the midst of winter, I learned there lives in me an invincible summer" Camus (maybe a paraphrase)

Sounds great:-) Thanks

* * * *


Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.
Plutarch