Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day Calzones

Happy Valentine's Day!

These were so fun to make! We had them last night as a kind of Happy Birthday for Anita/Happy Valentine's Day dinner.


We served them with our homemade marinara sauce which is really, really good. You can use store-bought too if you wish, but homemade is very easy to make.

Makes: 8 4" calzones
Prep time: 2 hours
Cook time: 20 minutes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 2 1/2 t yeast
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (or more)
  • 1 t salt
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cup wheat flour

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 1/4 cup pepperoni, chopped
  • 2 links Italian sausage, cooked, crumbled, drained
  • 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • Marinara sauce (see our recipe)

1. Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water and let set for 5-10 minutes or until yeast has bloomed.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flours and salt. Add in the yeast mixture and oil. Cover, place in a warm place, and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

3. Draw a heart pattern on paper or wax paper. Our pattern ended up being about 4" across the widest section. You can make them smaller if you want appetizer-sized calzones.

4. Preheat oven to 400 F.

5. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the dough in small portions at a time. Cut out using your heart pattern.

6. Spread about 1 tablespoon of marinara on one piece of dough, leaving a gap along the edges. Top with pepperoni, cheese and Italian sausage. Cover with another heart-shaped piece of dough, pinch down edges with your fingers and then crimp with a fork. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough.

7. Bake 10-20 minutes or until browned and dough is fully cooked. Serve with additional marinara sauce for dipping.

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