2021 fan favorites #8
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 15-18
 
Ingredients
  • Bread Dough:
  • 2 cups water - ( around 110 degrees)
  • 2 eggs - beaten
  • 2 Tablespoons oil
  • 6½ - 7½ cups flour (can use whole wheat)
  • ½ + ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 Tablespoons yeast
  • Filling:
  • 1½ pounds sausage - fried and crumbled
  • 7 ounces pepperoni - chopped
  • 8 ounces mozzarella cheese - shredded
  • 4 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon oregano
  • 1 Tablespoon fennel
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • ½ cup spicy bbq sauce ( like an open pit )
  • ½ cup sweet bbq sauce ( like Sweet Baby Ray's )
  • melted butter
  • italian seasoning
  • garlic salt
Instructions
  1. Bread dough instructions:
  2. In mixer bowl, combine 1 cup of water with the yeast and ¼ cup sugar. Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Add in remaining water, eggs, oil, remaining ½ cup sugar, 5 cups flour and salt. Mix. If you used fresh ground whole wheat, cover the dough and let rest 15 minutes before proceeding. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead until gluten fully develops, and dough passes the "window pane" test; for me, this takes around 10 minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled.
  3. Combine all filling ingredients.
  4. Punch dough down once it has doubled. At this point, I like to weigh the bread dough and divide the total weight by however many calzones I'm planning to make - usually 16-18 calzones. Divide dough into desired number of dough balls. Keep the dough balls covered as you work so they don't dry out.
  5. Take one dough ball round and stretch, push, and roll into a thin circle. Using a cookie scoop or measuring cup, place a blob of filing in the bottom half of the circle, fold the top half of the dough over, and press edges to seal. transfer to a cookie sheet, and seal edges again if needed. Repeat until you've used up all your dough or filling. Cover formed calzones, and let rise around 1 hour.
  6. Preheat oven to 350. Brush calzone tops with melted butter and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic salt.
  7. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown
Recipe by brown eyes + blue at https://www.browneyesplusblue.com/2021-fan-favorites-8/