Put out a variety of fillings and everyone has fun "making their own" calzone. While making homemade pizza dough and sauce is not something I do everyday, they are well worth the trouble. Or, if you don't have the time, feel free to substitute store-bought versions of one or the other.
This recipe stores well, so you can make the whole calzone and then freeze it, or freeze extra balls of dough and thaw for later use. When I first used this recipe while hosting my work team for a party, I thought it would be great fun for everyone to make their own. They really got into using different ingredients and labeling it with their initials made out of sauce or placing an ingredient or two on top to annotate "their" calzone. What I didn't account for was cooking time. You typically put two on a pan, and in a single oven with two racks that meant I could cook 4 at a time. With a team of 20, it took a long time for dinner to be ready! Now that I have a double oven it's faster, but you may want to plan around that if you're cooking for a crowd.
Here is the recipe, which came from the Garlic Lovers' Cookbook.
Pizza Dough (makes a dozen calzones or 3-4 large pizzas)
2T dry yeast (2 pkts)
1 t sugar
1/4 c warm water (100°)
4 C warm water
1 ½ C nonfat dry milk powder
(or 4 C warm milk to replace the above two)
1/3 c olive oil
1 t salt
12 c unbleached white flour
Stir first three ingredients together in a quart bowl in warm kitchen. Set aside. The yeast will bubble and froth in a few minutes. If it doesn't, your yeast might be old. Either add more or get a new batch.
Stir next four ingredients and six cups of flour together in large warm bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir in three more cups of flour gradually, stirring very vigorously. When too stiff to stir, turn out on lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic; adding just enough flour to keep dough from sticking. The 12 c estimate can vary greatly. You can use half whole wheat flour but the dough will not be as elastic.
Cut into 12 pieces, rub with olive oil, and allow to rise in a warm place on plates or a pan large enough so pieces will not touch. Let rise until double.
Note: They did not double in size for me, and in a hurry, I put them in a warm oven thinking that would speed the process. Mistake! They half-cooked, and then couldn't be rolled out at all. The next time they also didn't rise as much as I expected, but I just rolled them and proceeded and it seemed to work fine.
Pizza Sauce
1 bulb fresh garlic (yes, that’s the whole head!)
1/3 c olive oil
1 29 oz can tomato puree
1 28 oz can peeled Italian tomatoes, diced or 2 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
1-1/2 T dry basil
1-1/2 T dry oregano
½ t salt
1 t crushed hot red pepper
Separate and clean garlic cloves, slice thinly. Heat gently in oil in large skillet, do not let garlic brown. When sizzling, pour in tomato puree, tomatoes, and seasonings. Simmer 15 minutes stirring often, and allow to cool.
Fillings
You can use whatever fillings you like. Below is a list of ideas.
Cheeses: whole milk mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, romano
Meat: ham (prosciutto), salami, pepperoni, sausage (cooked)
Veggies: Onions, mushrooms, sliced and sautéed with garlic, black olives, fresh spinach leaves, whatever!
Making Calzone:
Set out sauce and prepared toppings. Take a ball of risen dough, place on floured board, and pound out flat with hands (or rolling pin), keeping round shape of even thickness to size of dinner plate. Tip: We rolled it out on a separate sheet (I used my silpat mat but you could probably just use wax paper or plastic wrap). This made it easy to invert the dough onto the cookie sheet.
Spread sauce, leaving 1 inch clean around edge. Place desired fillings on ½ of sauce area. Fold dough over, sealing the edges together by pressing borders firmly with fingers. Rub top with a little olive oil. Mark outside with sauce or cheese to identify your calzone or denote what’s inside. Bake on oiled pan or baking sheet in a 450° oven until golden brown on sides and bottom, 8 to 18 minutes. Tip: use parchment paper or foil in case the calzone leak. Each calzone will make a meal for someone hungry. Serve with wine or beer and green salad.
Yum! We'll have to try this one.