I’m going to show my ignorance here…
But how exactly do you pronounce the word calzone?
Is it cal-ZONE?
Or cal-zonie?
Or cal-zon-eh?
As you can see we don’t have much culture out here on the Wyoming prairie…
Well thankfully, I’m not doing a calzone video, so I don’t have to sound like an idiot if I am indeed pronouncing it wrong. 😉
But regardless of how you say the word, this calzone recipe is darn good.
Fridays are usually pizza night at our house, and when we get tired of pizza, we mix it up by making calzones instead.
Pretty wild and crazy, huh?
Calzones are one of those things that make people ooh-and-ahh, but in reality are pretty simple to make at home. Your family will love you forever when you whip a batch of these.
Easy Calzone Recipe
- One batch of homemade pizza dough
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese (here’s how to make your own mozzarella cheese at home)
- Toppings of your choice– I usually use around 3/4 cup of toppings per calzone (My personal favorite is sausage crumbles with sliced mushrooms, but any pizza-style toppings will do: pepperoni, olives, peppers, pineapple, veggies, etc!)
- 1-2 cups of marinara sauce (for dipping)
Instructions:
Mix up the pizza dough and allow it to rise for one hour.
After the rising period, punch it down and divide into four equal lumps.
Roll each lump into a circular shape–roughly 8″ in diameter (they don’t have to be perfect– you can see how sloppy mine are!)
Place the toppings of your choice on half of the dough circle (you’ll be folding the other half over the top to create the pocket)
Sprinkle liberally with mozzarella cheese…
Fold the top half of the circle over the toppings to create a pocket. If the two halves don’t line up perfectly, it’s OK– simply stretch/adjust the dough until you can crimp the edges to seal up the calzone. I usually do a bit of a rolling/pinching/mashing motion on the edges to make sure the calzones don’t come apart while baking.
Place the calzones on a pizza stone (like this one) or a greased baking sheet and let them rise for 30 minutes.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. I like to brush them with melted butter about 15 minutes through the baking process to give them a lovely golden color.
Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.
Kitchen Notes
- I generally place my calzones straight on my cold pizza stone, because I’m lazy… But you can preheat it if you like.
- If you really want to kick them up a notch, mix 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, and 1 teaspoon dried basil into the dough before the first rise.
- I love dipping my calzones in marinara sauce, but you could also put the sauce inside the calzone before baking if you wish.
- My hubby likes to dip his in ranch dressing instead of marinara…
- Can you make these gluten-free? I have no idea, sorry! 😉
- Why do I eat wheat flour when the rest of the world is shunning grains? Here’s why.
- Homemade calzones reheat beautifully for lunch the next day!
- If you would like to make a big batch of calzones to freeze for later, simply bake them as normal, allow them to cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Allow the calzones to thaw (2-3 hours), and then bake at 300 degrees until heated through.
So there you have it– now you can be a homemade calzone (cal-zonie? cal-zon-eh?) rockstar. You’re welcome. 😉
PrintEasy Homemade Pizza Calzones
Ingredients
- One batch of homemade pizza dough
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- Toppings of your choice– I usually use around 3/4 cup of toppings per calzone (My personal favorite is sausage crumbles with sliced mushrooms, but any pizza-style toppings will do: pepperoni, olives, peppers, pineapple, veggies, etc!)
- 1–2 cups of marinara sauce (for dipping)
Instructions
- Mix up the pizza dough and allow it to rise for one hour.
- After the rising period, punch it down and divide into four equal lumps.
- Roll each lump into a circular shape–roughly 8″ in diameter
- Place the toppings of your choice on half of the dough circle (you’ll be folding the other half over the top to create the pocket)
- Sprinkle liberally with mozzarella cheese
- Fold the top half of the circle over the toppings to create a pocket. If the two halves don’t line up perfectly, it’s OK– simply stretch/adjust the dough until you can crimp the edges to seal up the calzone. I usually do a bit of a rolling/pinching/mashing motion on the edges to make sure the calzones don’t come apart while baking.
- Place the calzones on a pizza stone (like this) or a greased baking sheet and let them rise for 30 minutes.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. I like to brush them with melted butter about 15 minutes through the baking process to give them a lovely golden color.
- Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.
I believe the correct pronunciation is cal-zone, at least that’s how I’ve always heard it. Thanks so much for the yummy looking recipe…we will be trying this for our family movie night this Friday : )
If you don’t use ricotta for a filling it’s not a true calzone try ricotta mozzarella snp to taste garlic fresh or powder oregano fresh basil and ham you won’t be disappointed.stay safe
The correct pronunciation is “cal-zon-eh”. Calzone is an Italian word which comes from the word “calzino” which means a sock. Due to the resemblance of this type of pizza to a closed sock…comes the famous word “calzone”. I am not Italian but I live very close to Italy and here in Malta, the Italian language is understood by almost every Maltese.
What a cool bit of triva– I’m going to be thinking of socks the next time I make calzones! 🙂
Being a word nerd, you piqued my interest about the pronunciation of calzone. According to the on-line The Free Dictionary, I had been pronouncing it incorrectly (bother!) as the stress is on the FIRST syllable. CAL zone eh. Regardless, I love this recipe and pinned it for later when I have dough on hand.
Good to know–I’ve definitely been saying it wrong then!
You are not alone. HAHAHAHA!!!! I put it in my computer and a little video came up. It seems it is Cal zon eh but it sounds like Calzonie to me. I have said it wrong too.
Regardless of how it’s pronounced, it looks delicious! And we love making homemade pizza, I’ll have to try the dough.
I love to make homemade pizza and Calzones…and I too use whole wheat flour…mmm Iove my grains 😉 I never thought to dip them in ranch like your hubby, just might have to try that trick!
Well for goodness sake! We are pronouncing it wrong for all these years! We a
We will be trying this recipe however you say it. It looks divinely yummy!
Thank you so much! Since I moved out of Illinois it has been a long time since I had a calzone. We made them tonight (with a dough mix 🙁 to make it quick) while we were helping our daughters with their 4H projects. It was fun to fill them with whatever you like. They were very good and we will make them again! Thank you again for posting these!
To answer the gluten free question…yes, you can totally make them gluten free! I used the Aldi brand of gluten free pizza dough mix. It’s a bit more difficult to handle than regular pizza dough, but they turned out amazing! (The trick is to handle this particular dough with damp hands.) Everyone else got pizza, but me….I’ve been in the mood for calzones. 🙂
Good to know– thanks for the tip Sarah!
There are so many things from your blog I adore– soap recipes, dairy cattle tips, fly spray, Ruth stout gardening, and THIS. My family has loved this recipe for years. Our favorite variation (one time I was out of pizza sauce) is to put sloppy joes in with mashed sweet potatoes and veggies. Thank you!
Your comment made me so happy! I’m thrilled to hear you’ve been enjoying the recipes and tips– especially this one!
No idea on the pronunciation, I think we’ll call them Pizza Socks instead! Thank you for the step by step instructions.
Have you ever froze cooked calzones?