Calzones

I love Italian food. I love pizza, I love lasanga. Calzones are the most magical combination of the two. And the way I do them, they are so super easy. I have to share.

Some months back, a friend of mine shared a tip that she would buy pizza dough by the case from the snack bar counter at Sams Club. You get a box with several frozen, individually wrapped dough balls for cheap. I am forever converted to ready-made dough. While there are a lot of things I feel good and confident about in the kitchen, breadmaking is not one of them. And there is so much good frozen dough out there now, it actually tastes better than my version of homemade bread. And it's cheap, so why torture myself? If you like to make bread, I'm sure you have a favorite recipe you use, so go with that one. If you don't want to invest in an entire case or frozen dough balls from Sams or don't have the freezer space, but you're not a breadmaker, the 50 cent package of dough mix from WalMart that you mix with water isn't a bad substitute. But for this recipe, I am using the Sam's dough balls.

You can do all sorts of fun things with this dough: breadsticks, cinnamon rolls (post on those to follow!), pizza, calzones, rolls, etc. For a quick Saturday night supper, I did calzones. The base of the filling is always the same, but you can let your little imagination run wild with what to fill them with. Anything that can go on a pizza can go in a calzone. Here is the recipe:

Calzones

Dough:

Frozen dough balls, frozen bread loaves, thawed, or your favorite recipe, or 2 packets of dough mix

Filling:

1 1/2 cups Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 t salt
1/2 lb motzerella, cut into cubes


I cut the two dough balls in halves, and it ended up making four huge calzones, which was great because all I had to do for lunch after church today was heat up the leftovers.

After cutting the dough balls into halves, I rolled each one out and placed two rolled out halves on two different stoneware cookie sheets. I spooned equal portions of the ricotta filling onto the dough, then loaded it down with ham or pepperoni. You could also add green peppers, olives, sausage, mushrooms, spinach and chicken...the possiblities are endless! But I had pepperoni and ham in the fridge, so that is what we had. I also added a few shakes of Italian seasoning as well.

Then you pull one side over making a half-moon shape and pinch it shut. I used scissors to cut some slits into the top of mine and brushed some olive oil over the top.

Then bake at 450 for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce for dipping. A different spin on pizza night!