Meat Lovers Calzones

Calzone, which means “stuffed pants” in Italian, is like a little pizza sandwich. These Meat Lovers Calzones stuffed with pepperoni, sausage and Canadian bacon are for all you meat lovers.

I love baking breads, so when Red Star Yeast asked me to team up again this fall to post three more yeast bread recipes, I jumped at the chance.

Red Star is updating the recipe section of their website with photos of their delicious recipes, so they’ve teamed up with food bloggers who will make, photograph and blog about the chosen recipe. My first pick is their easy-to-make Calzone recipe.

Making Meat Lovers Calzones

The Calzone dough comes together quickly, then after about an hour rise, it’s ready to shape in to Calzones. The dough is easier to roll out in to a circle if you shape it in to a ball first. Just pull the ends to the bottom to create a smooth round ball.

I like to use my fingers to pat the dough in to a circle. When I’ve shaped it in to a circle, then I’ll pull out the rolling pin and roll it a bit thinner. I like to work with two circles at a time, so I let one rest and the gluten relaxes while I’m patting out the second one. Then I’ll come back to the first one, and after that little rest, the dough is easier to work with and stretches much easier.

My family loves making Calzones for dinner. I put the fillings out and everyone makes their Calzone just the way they like it. I give them a ball of dough and they create their masterpiece. There’s often bragging and teasing about whose Calzone looks the best.

For my meat loving boys, I decided this time to make meat lovers Calzones. I put out pepperoni, sausage, and Canadian bacon, as well as plenty of cheese, black olives and mushrooms. The original Calzone recipe on the Red Star website is a veggie Calzone, so feel free to substitute your favorite pizza toppings.

You can use store bought pizza sauce, but I used my favorite, easy-to-make homemade pizza sauce. You’ll want plenty of sauce so you can also serve some on the side for dipping.

Calzones are a fun alternative to pizza and a great way to get your family in to the kitchen and baking with you.

Meat Lovers Calzones

Yield: 6 calzones

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water, 120° to 130°
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoon (1 package) Red Star Quick Rise or Platinum Yeast

Filling

• 1/2 cup Pizza sauce, plus additional for serving
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup pepperoni, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup Canadian bacon, diced
• 1/2 cup black olives, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

Directions:

Combine flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add liquid ingredients and mix with paddle or beaters for 4 minutes on medium speed. Gradually add additional flour if needed and knead with dough hook(s) 5 to 7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover; let rise until dough doubles and passes the ripe test.

Preheat oven to 375°. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; punch down to remove air bubbles. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Shape to balls. Let dough relax 10 minutes. On floured surface, roll each piece into an 8-inch circle.

Spoon pizza sauce, cheese and toppings onto half of each circle. Moisten edge of dough with mixture of 1 egg and 1 teaspoon water. Fold in half; seal edge by pressing with fork. Prick each top; brush with remaining egg mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheets for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

More recipes using Red Star Yeast that you might like:

All-American Pizza
Cherry ‘n Cheese Lattice Coffeecake
Crispy Cinnamon Rounds
Whole Wheat Yeast Waffles
Lemon Pull-Apart Bread

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Red Star Yeast, but all opinions expressed are always my own.  You can also find Red Star Yeast on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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