Calzones

Make bread dough in a bread machine at least 2-3 hours before you want to eat! You can make the dough early, cover it and put it in the refrigerator. Just remember to take out the dough an hour before you want to make dinner so it has a chance to warm up.
Calzone Dough
11/2 cups water
2 T. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 T. dried basil leaves (or Italian seasoning)
3 T. olive oil
3 T. toasted wheat germ
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. rapid rise yeast
1/3 c. oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (or you can leave this out)

Place all ingredients except tomatoes in bread machine in the order specified by your manufacturer. Spoon tomatoes into 4 corners of the pan, but do not cover the yeast. Use the dough setting on your bread machine and remove dough when completed. Place dough on wax paper or parchment paper and allow to rest  for 15 minutes (covered).

You can use anything you like for Calzone Ingredients, but we used the following:

Grated mozzarella cheese, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, freshly sliced baby portabella mushrooms, chopped green or red pepper, chopped red onion, pepperoni, chopped fresh plum tomato, sliced black olives, fresh slices of garlic cloves, sauted lightly.

Other ingredients to try: cooked Italian sausage, cooked Italian meatballs, cooked chicken, artichokes, spinach leaves (cooked and well-drained), fresh zucchini (sliced), a variety of cheeses including ricotta cheese. For a Mexican flavor you could use cooked chorizo sausage, jalepenos, pepperjack cheese, Mexican spices, etc. There are endless possibilities!

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Divide bread dough into fourths. For each fourth, roll, dough out into an oval about 6-8 inches along to long edge. Fill HALF of the dough  with small handful of mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle as many filling ingredients as you want on top and finish with a generous handful of the grated Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, freshly ground black pepper, granulated garlic, and Italian spices.

Fold top half of the Calzone dough on top of the ingredients and seal with an egg wash (1 beaten egg with a small amount of water). Be sure the dough is well sealed or ingredients will spill out while baking. Place calzone on a baking stone and baste entire calzone with the egg wash. Bake on top rack in the 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Watch closely. to ensure it doesn't burn. Move pan to lower rack of the oven if top is too brown.

Calzone is done when the dough sounds "hollow" when tapped and you can hear the ingredients sizzle.

Serve with homemade or jarred spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce warmed up and placed in an individual bowl on the side. Inside ingredients are very hot, so be careful. You can eat like a burrito or with a knife and fork.

Below is a Vegetarian Calzone