Homemade Calzone
Wrapped up Pizza
Calzone is a close cousin to pizza; you could even call it wrapped up pizza because the filling is encased in the delicious dough rather than sitting on top.
Want to impress your family? Need a handy food, easy to eat at a picnic or party? Calzone fits the bill. Cut it into slices, and it can be eaten with your hands!
Here are step by step directions with photos for making large, homemade calzones.
Step by Step Calzone Tutorial
I wanted to make something to take on the road, but the contents of the refrigerator were saying PIZZA. Hmmm... pizza is not so portable. Then I remembered CALZONE!
Calzone is basically the same as pizza but with a much prettier appearance. If you want to impress your family, make your regular pizza into a calzone, and watch them "ooh and ahh." And since the filling is inside instead of on top, it's easier to take on the road! Voila!
Roll pizza dough into a rectangle the length of your baking sheet. It can be wider than the sheet because you will be folding the sides in. Place the dough on the baking sheet and let the sides hang off.
Put sauce on the center half of the dough.
Just like pizza, add your toppings (our favorites are pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms). Calzones can be a good way to use up leftovers. Any small amounts of meat, cheese and vegetables can be put into the calzone.
Then add cheese.
Now comes the special part. Cut the dough on the sides at about 3/4 inch intervals. Don't cut all the way to the filling.
This is what it looks like when all the cuts are made.
Then "wrap the baby." (That's what my friend said it looked like when I showed her how to make this recipe!) Start at the bottom and alternating sides, overlap the strips of dough onto the filling in a lattice pattern. You can stretch the pieces to fit all the way over the filling.
Here is the calzone ready to bake. Bake your calzone at 375° F (190° C) for about 25-30 minutes.
Uh oh... don't do what I did. Now how in the world do I get this huge thing onto a baking sheet? I knew there was something I was forgetting!!
For the second one, I remembered to start with my rectangle of dough ON a baking sheet. That makes cutting the dough a bit harder, but I used my handy kitchen scissors.
By the way, the same dough wrapping technique can be used for sweet fillings too. See my apricot coffeecake for an example.
Kitchen Scissors
An indispensable tool for a cook, the kitchen scissors are specially made for cutting foods and to stand up under repeated washings.
These scissors are tough for the hardest cutting jobs but easy to clean. A unique design enables you to take the scissors totally apart and clean them thoroughly!
The Calzone -- Baked, Cooled, and Ready to Eat
After baking your calzone, remove it to a wire rack to cool.
Aren't they beautiful? And the whole house smells like a pizzeria!
I use a recipe from allrecipes.com.
Once it's cool, you can cut the calzone into slices.
All the goodies are sealed inside the bread. Portable pizza!
Triple Tiered Cooling Rack
This triple tiered wire rack will save space in the kitchen! Stack three times the normal amount of baked goods in only a small amount of counter space.
Collapsible for easy storage
Non-stick coated for easy cleanup
Mesh wire design cools the smallest cookies and candies
Cool three square feet of baked goods using only one square foot of counter space
Sturdy design holds the heaviest of baked goods - up to three pies on all tiers
Calzone Recipes
- All Recipes' Calzone
This is my favorite Calzone recipe! It has never failed me yet! - Spinach and Artichoke Calzone
This recipe is full of ricotta cheese! Yum! - Calzone by Kevin and Amanda
These two cooks take a few shortcuts. They use packaged pizza dough to speed up the process! Their folding technique is very quick and easy too. - Picnic Ideas - Pizza Pockets
Nony shares her portable pizza pockets on her housekeeping blog. - DIY Hot Pockets
Make your calzone more "kid-friendly" by using hot dogs inside!
Pizza Dough Recipe
For each calzone you make, you'll need one batch of dough. Click HERE for a printable PDF recipe card.
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour (can use a combination of white and whole wheat if you prefer)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 cup very warm water
Combine yeast, sugar, 1 cup of the flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add the warm water and oil and mix. Stir in remaining flour slowly until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead until smooth. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before making the calzone.
Do you have a Unique and Beautiful Recipe Card Box to store your pizza dough recipe card?
Pizza: Calzone & Focaccia - cookbook
Want more recipes? Here is a cookbook devoted to Pizza, calzones, and focaccia!
Pizza is everyone's favorite Italian food. Create delicious pizzas, calzones, and focaccias with Maxine Clark's authentic recipes.
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looks so good and very easy to make
Yes, I do, Carolyn. PizzaHomeChef.com's will take you through the recpie and technique for making a great pizza that you can stretch or roll very thin. As you get the hang of it, you'll be able to stretch your dough till you can actually see light coming through. This is called windowpaning. When you can see the light, you'll definitely have a very thin crust pizza. There's a discussion of this at with some photos of this translucent dough effect.Then you can decide if you really like it that thin.So it's partly about a good dough recpie (also available in the previous post) and partly about fine-tuning your technique.Please check in and share your progress.
Try laying our a piece of parchment paper while prepping on a counter top, then just lift the whole thing (with the sides of the parchment paper) onto your baking sheet and bake the whole thing. Parchment paper is awesome and guarantees a nice golden non-stick bottom.
I have been making my own Calzone for years for years, I use a rolling technique for mine.
But, I love the way you make yours, with the strips of dough overlapped. I can't wait to try this next time. Looks so pretty!!
Great lens. The best calzone I ever had was filled with different salami's, pepperoni, sausage, cheese and marinara sauce, it was huge and delicious. Now I've made myself hungry 'drool drool'
Looks delicious. Can't wait to try it out. Great lens.
Calzones are fantastic! I make them all the time using the Pilsbury pre-made cake dough. I tried their pizza dough but didn't like it as much. The best thing about calzones is that literally EVERYTHING tastes good in them. A great way to use up leftover stuff like an odd vegetable that you have left over from something else.
You can't beat a good calzone. Got me wanting a midnight feast now! :)
I make my own pizza and calzone with 5-minute pizza dough. Love home made pizza and its cousins.
Yummy, will try it. Thanks for your sharing.
We sometimes have calzones on a Saturday night but I have never attempted to make my own, perhaps I will now. Great Lens
Nice lens , simple and effective, I am hungry...been looking for great lenses with food all day...
I love calzone and you've made it look so easy - thank you!
You can roll the dough out and place it on a piece of parchment paper the size of your pan or waxed paper and when you are ready lift the paper and put on your baking sheet.
great to see how it's made. I live how the finished product looks.
Fantastic, I make my own calzones also but I never saw the cut like that to wrap, I'm going to try it on my next one. Thanks
This looks amazing. I hope I have what it takes to try this out. It looks very fun and delicious both.
Just stopping back by to let you know I made one last night with whole wheat flour. Filling was fresh tomato slices, fresh basil leaves, sliced garlic, red onion, black beans and cheddar cheese. We were out of mozzarella, and, unhappily, so was the neighborhood store. Mine was not nearly as pretty as yours, but plenty tasty.
I rolled it out on parchment paper and transferred it, parchment and all, to a pizza stone I had pre-heated with the oven. Worked great. We're having the leftovers for dinner tonight, and I'm so happy I don't have to figure out what to have for Meatless Monday.
Thanks again for a beautifully done page and a scrumptious recipe.
That looks positively delicious. I love how you wrapped it in a lattice pattern. So beautiful. This would make a fun treat to take to my daughters' houses now and then. Going to give it a try. Thank you!
sounds delicious! can't wait to make this!
This has always been a perfect date night/cooking night with the bf! We have made this several times now, we just love it. We make 2 out of one batch of dough b/c I am a vegetarian and he isn't. Next we roll them on parchment paper and cut them. I usually season my dough (garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes) on the inside with the other ingredients that I like to add (banana peppers, onions, fresh mushrooms, gouda cheese), wrap them exactly how you did, place both on a pan and bake. It makes 2 perfect calzones! It's cheap and if you don't have time to make the dough we buy the frozen Pillsbury pizza dough and proceed as we would with the homemade version. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
I like the presentation.
Yum! Looks delicious. Wish I could have that. In my country, calzone is usually made with ham in it. If you ask for calzone in a pizza store, that's usually what you get. It's delicious for sure. I'd love to be able to taste one without it too. :)
Cool recipe looks so good!
I love a good calzone. Thanks for this.
I'm going to try this. Tasty lens!
I love calzones. I'll have to try your recipe. It looks delicious.
I have made these several times, I use parchment paper to roll them out on ant it's an easy transfer to the baking sheet and very easy clean up.
Excellent recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Sound delicious I like the way you made the cuts on the top of the crust. I think I'll try it the next time I make it.
Great recipe,and cutting the dough (I used pizza cutter) makes very nice presentation.
Made this tonite,,looked great, tasted great. This recipe is a keeper.
Instead of scissors, try a pizza cutter- works great!
Wow i am hungry. Grew up on the east coast and had great pizza shops. I never appricates a good Calzone tilli moved to the southwest and well there not so great here.
Looks delicious. I'm hungry now!
Made this for my dad and boyfriend and they both LOVED them! Definitely a keeper!! What I did: 1) Split the batch of dough into 2 and spread it thin; didn't want it to be too doughy. 2) Made the dough and sauce, topped with mozzarella, then sauteed onion, sausage, pepperoni, and salami with garlic and crushed red pepper and threw it on top of the cheese. 3) Brushed the top of the dough with egg yolk before baking to get it golden. 4) Since I had 2 smaller ones and partially cooked ingredients, 20 minutes at 375 was enough.
I used Pillsbury Pizza Dough, cut in half to make two calzones. My boys are finnicky eaters so the only toppings I used were pepperoni and meatballs. I bake them for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. They came out perfect and my boys loved them! Thanks so much!!!
The photos really made me feel I could tackle this. Thanks!
Great job on the lens, can't wait to try it out!
Looks delicious! Got to try this one soon.
Your photos are great. It really makes it easy to see the steps involved. Your calzone looks so delicious.
I have a few questions. Why go through all the effort of braiding the dough - is it just for looks? Do you cook it on a pizza stone? That is my choice for cooking pizza. Do you let the calzone rise a bit before cooking? My last attempt the dough was too thin and I had too much sauce inside. I'll be trying it again but I will try your idea of braiding if not only for looks it will make the dough thicker. Another tip I found useful is using silicone or parchment paper as your base so you can slide it onto a pizza paddle and onto a hot pizza stone... or just slide it onto a pan.
I made mine on parchment paper, it allowed for easy cutting AND slid onto my pampered chef pizza stone easily! GREAT recipe!
m impressed with the style of cookoing ....i will really try it out...
Do you grease the pan?
Love this Lens. One that I just had to pin to Pinterest. Thanks
Very helpful lens. Thank you for sharing.
So that was the secret of calzone looking like that. It's very creative. Makes the food look so much more delicious. :)
I rolled mine out on a silpat the could easily lift and put on cookie sheet and then it also did not stick.
Looks delicious, but isn't this Stromboli? Calzones are half-moon shaped and eaten as one piece. Strombolis are shaped like a long loaf of bread, then sliced and served. Again, the recipe looks delicious.
what kind of mushrooms did you use?
Had the best calzone from local Italian restaurant, he passed and so did the restaurant. Thanks for the recipes now I can make it. Tasty Lens!
I would have never thought about making calzones this way. Thanks
Great photos! I love calzones!
Great lens...Love calzone and so easy to make!
You've done such a great job with your directions and photos. I'll have to try making this.
I made this last night and it was so easy and delicious!!! This will definitely go into my dinner rotation!!!! Thanks for posting it :-)
Great photos! Now I'm not afraid to try making Homemade Calzone.
You could make the calzone on a piece of parchment paper and then move it to the pan. That's what i'll do when I make this tonight! :)
I need to make 4 of these at one time for a house full of boys so I'm wondering if the dough can be made the night before and be put in the refrigerator until its time to make the actual calzone? Or do you suggest freezing it until the next day?
Looks like my old blessing wore off, so I added some angel dust to one of my favorite recipe pages.
That looks delicious! And what a pretty design on the top because of the folded slits in the dough.
I make a similar recipe, and I always make sure to put the dough on the cookie sheet BEFORE I assemble it...I use a pizza cutter to make my cuts...so easy :)
I love your easy looking braid-style method.
@paula-l-hale: Yeah you can freeze the dough for Up to 2 months
I've made something similar but it is called a taco bake. You use crescent rolls, brown hamburger meat with taco seasoning and add cheddar cheese. It is like a take along taco without the mess.
This really sounds good. I'm half Italian and I've heard of calzone, but never tried it. That has got to change. I liked this lens so much I featured it in my new lens October Is National Pizza Month. Thanks for the information.
TonyB
@anonymous: Great idea~~how about a little olive oil brushed on top, or maybe an egg wash with a little Parmesan cheese , garlic and Italian seasoning sprinkled on top????
Has anyone tried to freeze this before baking? My sister is ill and I travel to her house to fill her freezer. This would be a gread change if that would be a good option,
I'm doing this right now and we're so excited, I know it'll be YUMMY!!!!!!
Made this for dinner and it was a big hit with the family! Easy and quick to make!
Wow that looks amazing and so easy to try
The most beautiful calzone I have ever seen! You make this look easy. Can't wait to try it.
Can't wait to prepare my calzone following your recipe! :)
before you put it in the oven you should sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese, granulated garlic, and italian seasoning... that makes it even better =)
Looks delicious and I like how you prepare it. Thanks for the recipe.
I love calzones, and now I can experiment with making them myself.
Going to bookmark this page.
Thanks!
I am sneaking a few olives and chopped mushrooms into ours. Put a layer of pepperoni and a little bit of bacon bits in it too. Lets see if the kids ignore the veggies and just tear into it!!!
My local pizza house makes a great Calzone, but will give this a try for sure. Thanks for a great lens!
i love pizza
I loved calzones but have just bought them at our local pizza house. Will have to remember I can make them as well.
This seems to be a quite easy and wonderful idea to make a calzone. Love this!!
I love that you showed your mistake. :) I totally would have done that myself. Now I'm off to bake this for a dinner party tonight! (I'm supposed to bring the savory....)
This is such a great step by step lens to make a killer cal zone. Thank you for sharing this Italian dream.
We used to make this with thawed prepared bread dough. Mom called them "braided pizzas".
This is a recipe that definitely will love to try. Thanks for the step by step pictures, really helpful!
I just made this .. Awesome. Such an easy weekday meal. I have a one year old so the easier the better..& even he loved it !
I love calzones, but never tried making them at home. Thanks for sharing this. I'm definitely going to have to give it a try.
@anonymous: That's what I did. Worked well.
Pizza Hut now has calzones. They may not be as good as the ones you can make at home, but when you gotta eat on the run they're great!
I love this lens...we make pizza at home but have never tried one of these...It looks great and much easier to slice, store and transport :)
This looks delicious! I think you should call it a pizza braid. I will probably try assembling the braid on parchment paper that way I can pick it up with the paper and put on the baking sheet. Plus it will make clean up easy. Can't wait to try it! Thanks for posting it!
I believe this would be considered closer to stromboli rather than a calzone, although its not exactly either. You should come up with a brand new name!
What A Find! I just conquered my fear of using dry yeast. This is another great use for it. Thanks, the article is very detailed and easy to follow. "I'm lovin' it!"
As former pizza restaurant owners...we suggest you include a side of sauce for dipping...adds another dimension
Looks wonderful.
I can not wait to try this
i really like how easy making this...
nice lens
yummy, sounds so good, I have to try it.
looks awesome! I like calzones with jalapeños or some other chile. spicy.
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