Calzones or Panzarotti

Calzones or Panzarotti are stuffed pizzas. They can be baked or fried. I made mine with whole wheat dough.  You can stuff them with anything you like. 

I made mine with turkey meatballs and some with sausage, onions and bacon.

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 tsp regular yeast
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt

Filling

• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1 clove garlic- crushed
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 sun dried tomatoes-chopped fine
• 2 tbsp grated onion
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

OR

• 2 hot Italian sausages
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 onion sliced- cooked until carmelized
• 2 tbsp bacon -chopped and cooked crispy

Sauce

• 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley-chopped
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 clove garlic- crushed
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• salt/pepper
• shredded mozzarella

Step 1: add warm water, honey and yeast to bowl. Wait for 10 minutes. Add flour and salt and knead until you get a smooth dough. Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise on counter for 2 hours or leave in fridge up to 24 hours.

Step 2: prepare sauce in a small bowl. Mix all ingredients and set aside until ready to use.

Step 3: prepare toppings. I remove casings and chop sausages. Then saute to cook. Once they are starting to brown add honey to brown and coat the hot sausages with sweet honey. Set aside. Fry bacon bits until crispy. Set aside.

Step 4: prepare turkey meatballs. Add all ingredients and form balls. Saute until cooked and set aside. Shred Mozzarella or buy pre-shredded.

Step 5: divide dough into 8 even pieces. Roll out thin (but not too thin!) and fill with either the sausages, bacon and carmelized onions or the turkey meatballs and cheese. Make sure to add some of your sauce to both but, do not over fill. Fold over and crimp edges to seal shut. Use lots of flour to make sure they do not stick to counter. I bake on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Step 6: I brush the tops with garlic infused olive oil.

Bake at 475 degrees until golden. Approx 8-10 minutes.

You can use some of the small rounds to make mini pizzas or all calzones. They are both delicious.