Ingredients
- Pizza dough, divided into 8 equal portions
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Marinara sauce
- Bread flour, for rolling out the dough
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg plus 1 tsp water, beaten together
Suggested fillings:
- Pepperoni
- Yellow onion
- Bell pepper
- Black olives
- Button mushrooms
Get Your Oven Hot
Crank your oven to 500F. It needs to be screaming hot for these.
Prep Everything First
Dice all your veggies and get your fillings ready. Once you start assembling, you don’t want to stop to chop mushrooms.
Shape and Fill
Dust your counter with flour. Roll each dough portion into a ~6-7 inch circle. Don’t worry about perfect circles – rustic is fine.
On one half of each circle, spread 1-2 tablespoons marinara, leaving a 1/2 inch border. You need that border to seal properly.
Add 1-2 tablespoons cheese on the sauce. Layer your toppings – resist the urge to overload. Too much filling = leaky calzones.
Top with another 1-2 tablespoons cheese and a few small dots of sauce.
Wet your finger and run it along the edge of the dough. Fold the empty half over and press the edges together hard. Really pinch that seam shut – any gaps will leak cheese everywhere.
Prep for Baking
Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cut a small slit in the top of each with a sharp knife. This is crucial – no vent means they’ll blow up like balloons.
Brush with egg wash. This gives you that nice golden, shiny crust.
Bake Them
Slide into your 500F oven for ~15-20 minutes.
They’re done when they’re deep golden brown all over. Pick one up and tap the bottom – it should sound hollow.
Let Them Cool
I know it’s hard, but wait ~10 minutes before cutting in. That filling is like lava straight from the oven.
After 10 minutes the cheese sets up and won’t burn your mouth off.
Serve with extra marinara for dipping if you want. These are also great cold the next day – just saying.
Homemade Calzone
Ingredients
- Pizza dough divided into 8 equal portions
- Mozzarella cheese grated
- Marinara sauce
- Bread flour for rolling out the dough
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg plus 1 tsp water beaten together
Suggested fillings:
- Pepperoni
- Yellow onion
- Bell pepper
- Black olives
- Button mushrooms
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Dice vegetables and prepare fillings.
- Roll each dough portion into 6-7 inch circles on floured surface.
- Spread 1-2 tbsp marinara on one half of circle, leaving 1/2 inch border.
- Layer 1-2 tbsp cheese, desired fillings, more cheese, and small dots of sauce.
- Wet edges with water, fold dough over, and pinch edges firmly to seal.
- Place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Cut small vent slit in top of each calzone.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until deep golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.
- Cool 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with extra marinara for dipping if desired.
