Homemade Calzone Recipe Perfect for a Weekend Treat

I haven't met anyone who doesn't love eating pizza, and preparing it at home is one of the best ways to celebrate the weekend. The only problem with this is the pizza dough which some might consider harder to prepare than it actually is. But truth be told, for a perfect result, all you need is patience.

Today, I want to talk about a calzone recipe that is crispy and delicious. What makes this type of pizza special is that it is not an open recipe but a stuffed one. Similar in looks with a sambousek if you may.

Nevertheless, it is just as delicious as you know pizza to be. But let's not linger more than needed on technicalities, and let's learn how to make a pizza calzone.

• Take a large mixing bowl and mix the flour and the salt. Combine the lukewarm water with the yeast, cover it and let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Pour into the flour bowl and start mixing everything until your dough forms.

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• Take it out to your surface and knead it for a couple of minutes.
• Place it back in the bowl, cover it with a plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for somewhere around 20 hours. You can leave even 24 hours if you want. The longer, the better.
• The next day, divide your dough into 2 pieces and form 2 balls.
• Grease a baking tray and place them there. Cover and let the proof for another 4 hours.

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• When you have one hour left of waiting, you can start preparing your other ingredients.
• Cut the onion horizontally right in the middle. Take out the rings and coat them with garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and olive oil—place in a baking tray lined with a baking sheet.

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• Cook in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for 25-30 minutes.

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• When done, take them out and let them cool at room temperature.
• You will need your oven screaming hot for the pizza, so don't close the heat, but go as high as your oven allows it, which is usually 250 Celsius (500F).
• For the sauce, heat up the olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat for 1-2 minutes. When it starts to get bubbly, add the crushed canned tomatoes and let it simmer for 5-8 minutes. Add the sugar, salt, and pepper, and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. When ready, bring the basil leaves, close the heat and stir to combine.

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• Great. Now let's return to our pizza.
• Take each dough ball and press them to make a disc, and then using a rolling pin, make the disk as large as you can.
• Start putting the filling on half of your dough. I personally added a layer of grated mozzarella, a layer of pepperoni, one of onion, and a final layer of grated mozzarella. But you can do this any way you want. You can even use different fillings.
• Take the unfilled layer of the dough and bring it to the other half. Pinch them together and fold the edge back, pressing to create a double seal.
• Brush the top with olive oil and place it on your pizza stone or on the backside of an oven tray. You may want to gently flour your tray if you use one.

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• Bake for 8-10 minutes, then take it out and serve it immediately with as much sauce as you like. Be careful as the filling will be smoking hot.

Calzone pizza has its origins in Naples, and it goes all the way back to the 18 century. You should also know that there are also fried pizza calzone recipes and not only baked ones.

However, if you go with a homemade calzone recipe, I find it easier to cook it in the oven. Plus, this way, you will keep your calzone calories at a lower level.

Finally, there are a lot of discussions based on the calzone vs stromboli differences. Stromboli is made by filling the dough and rolling it out, unlike calzone, which has a crescent shape.

* If you make out easy calzone recipe, don't forget to tag us on Instagram.

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