Calzones

Aaron loves pizza.  On nights when I have dinner with my parents he usually orders pizza.  Thankfully my pizza seems to trump delivery pizza.  One night a few months ago I had pizza on the menu, but I had left my big pizza pan at someone's house.  So I improvised and made calzones instead.  Aaron like them so much that the next time I planned pizza again he asked if I could change it to calzones.

I do make my own pizza dough from the recipe on Annie's Eats blog.  One batch of the dough will make two  medium size pizzas or four calzones.  Tonight I didn't have to make any dough because I had some stocked up in the freezer.  I let it thaw in the fridge overnight and when Aaron got home I started cooking.

I start out by preheating the oven to 450 degrees.

Each calzone takes about a 9-10 oz ball of dough.  Put it on a well floured work surface.

I like to roll it out with a rolling pin.  Pizza dough (at least mine anyway) is kind of springy and if I try to press it out with my hands it just springs back to the center.

Lay the flattened dough out on the pizza pan.  To give you an idea how big this is, I think this is a 10 or 12 inch pan.

Layer the toppings on one half of the dough.  This one is Aaron's so it's just cheese and pepperoni, but you can put in whatever toppings you like.  I like green peppers, black olives, mushrooms, and sausage.  Calzones don't have any sauce in them.  You put the sauce on the side to dip them in.

Fold the dough over and seal the edges together.  I like to crimp it with a fork.  Then use the fork to poke a few holes in the top so it can vent.  (The first time I made them I forgot to poke the top and they puffed up huge!)  Then I put them in the oven for 15 minutes.

While they are baking I melt 2 Tbsp of butter and mix in a tiny bit of garlic powder and salt.  After 15 minutes I take the calzones out and brush the garlic butter on top.  Then it's back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

When they come out they are a beautiful golden-brown but incredibly hot.  Let them sit about 5 minutes.  After they have cooled for a few minutes you can transfer them to a cutting board.  Cut them into 4 pieces and serve with a side of marinara sauce.

I made Aaron's strawberry birthday cake today too.  We are taking it to his parents' house tomorrow night for dinner so I didn't want to cut into it yet.  I made a tiny one to eat tonight instead.

Wow, that picture looks worse on here than it did on the iPod.  I promise to get some good ones of the big cake tomorrow though.