These are a lot of work, but always worth it! Rachel put this recipe together herself, and it is a favorite meal for her family.
Dough
¾ C water
1½ Tbsp olive oil
⅜ tsp salt
2 C bread flour
1 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
Filling
4 oz fresh white mushrooms, sliced
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
1 Tbsp butter
¼ lb Jimmy Dean Italian sausage
½ C chopped fresh onion
½ C chopped fresh green pepper
¾ C grated mozzarella
Other
olive oil
kosher salt
corn meal
Marinara (Rachel recommends Classico’s Cabernet Marinara)
You will also need…
bread machine
pizza stone
pizza peel
pizza cutter
kitchen shears
Prepare dough with bread machine dough setting. Preheat pizza stone in oven at 400°F for 1 hour. When dough finishes, allow to sit and rise 30 minutes while you prepare the filling:
Sauté mushrooms and garlic in butter until tender. Brown the sausage in another skillet. Chop onions and peppers. Have all filling ingredients ready before rolling out the dough. Divide dough in half, and roll out into 2 8″ circles (no more than ½ inch thick). Layer filling ingredients on one side of each circle thusly: sausage, mushrooms, pepper, onion, cheese. Fold over each circle and press down dough edges close to filling. Cut around the edge of the filling lump and pinch tightly closed.
Sprinkle pizza peel with corn meal and carefully move the calzones onto it. Cut three slits in the top of each with shears, baste with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Sprinkle the pizza stone with corn meal, and slide the calzones onto it with the peel. Bake 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.
If you make two calzones, there is usually enough dough left over for several breadsticks. You could make one or two more calzones with the remainder instead, if you prepare extra filling.
Meanwhile, warm marinara over medium heat on the stove. Serve hot on the side, or poured over the calzones. Setting steak knives on the table makes cutting easier.
Yields: 2-4 servings
Time to make: 2 hr
Source: Rachel Hoffman Bayles