Eat Well, Live Happy: Sausage & Red Pepper Calzones

I went to the Leesburg outlets this past weekend and while in Williams-Sonoma, I found a calzone mold that I had seen on their website. It was only $8 at the outlets, so I bought it and tested it out last night. I used a calzone recipe from Williams-Sonoma's website as a guide for the amounts of ingredients and how to use the mold. Of course, you can do this without the mold, but I thought it was a nice inexpensive little gadget. I've always made calzone the way my grandma does - by making it like a pizza and then rolling it up and tucking the sides under so nothing spills out when it's baking. I love the calzone, but making it that way, it is difficult to add ricotta, which I also love! If you make it by folding the dough in half instead of rolling, it's a completely different calzone which opens up other possibilities for filling!

I made two recipes (separately) of the dough and covered them with a towel so they could rise. The dough was a little sticky, so on the second batch I mixed it with a spoon first before using the dough hook on the mixer. That helped it a little. You just have to work with the dough until it's right!

I used ground sage sausage and yellow and orange peppers in my calzone. I would have used red peppers but the ones at my local grocery store didn't look so great. I also chopped an onion and 1 clove of garlic. I sauteed all of the veggies with a little bit of olive oil and added salt, pepper, and Italian Seasonings to them. I browned the sausage, and when both the sausage and peppers cooled, I mixed in some shredded mozzarella cheese and ricotta. I didn't measure the cheeses, just added what I thought looked right. I also cooked a can of tomato sauce with salt, pepper, and Italian Seasoning to dip the calzone in.

Once the dough was risen, I divided each batch into 6 parts and kneaded them into rounds. I used a rolling pin and plenty of flour to stretch each before putting the dough into the calzone mold. Then I added a little over 1/3 cup filling into one side of the mold, and sealed them. I set 3 calzones on each of my 4 baking sheets (which had olive oil and semolina flour on them). I put a little olive oil and grated Romano cheese on each calzone before baking, and then baked them at 425° for about 12-14 minutes. I served them with a little marinara sauce on the side - delicious! I made 12 calzone with the intention of freezing a few. After serving my family and my sister and her husband, I was only left with 2, but I froze them for work day lunches. I'll definitely be using the calzone mold again soon, and trying out some different fillings as well!

Sausage & Red Pepper Calzones

Recipe Courtesy Williams-Sonoma

Filled with a variety of meats, vegetables and cheeses, calzones are a centuries-old tradition in southern Italy. These savory pies are easy to prepare using our specially designed mold.

Dough

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup warm water (110°F)

2 cups bread flour, plus more as needed

1½ teaspoons salt

6 Tablespoons olive oil

Filling

7 ounces mild Italian sausage or sage sausage

¼ yellow onion, sliced

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano

3 ounces ricotta cheese

12 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated

6 Tablespoons tomato sauce

Semolina flour for dusting

6 Tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In a small bowl, stir together the yeast, sugar and warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the 2 cups bread flour, salt, and the yeast mixture. Slowly drizzle in 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil and process for about 3 minutes. The dough should come together into a large ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl; it should be moist but not sticky.

Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover with a towel. Let stand at room temperature until the dough is doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of an oven and preheat the oven to 500º. If you are not using a pizza stone, preheat your oven to 425º.

In a 10-inch fry pan over medium heat, warm 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the sausage, breaking it into small chunks, and cook until browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Wipe out the pan, set over medium heat and warm 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl; add the sausage, oregano, ricotta, mozzarella and tomato sauce and stir to combine.

Punch down the dough, divide it into 6 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Using extra bread flour if the dough is too sticky, roll out 1 ball of dough into an 8-inch round; use the open calzone mold as a guide (the dough round should be about ½ inch wider than the mold). Place the dough on the mold. Place 1/3 cup filling on one side of the dough, then close the mold, pressing the dough down firmly. Gently remove the calzone from the mold, place on a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour and refrigerate. Repeat to make 5 more calzones. Brush the top of each calzone with ½ Tablespoon olive oil, then dust each with 1 Tablespoon Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Transfer 3 calzones to a pizza peel dusted with semolina flour, then carefully slide them onto the preheated pizza stone and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are cooked. Remove the calzones from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Repeat with the remaining calzones.

Makes 6 calzones.