Sausage & Pepper Calzones

Sausage & Pepper Calzone

Weekends are perfect for making homemade bread and you are going to love the easy garlic crust I made for the Sausage & Pepper Calzones.  The boys have been spending every spare moment in the deer stands and that makes dinner time a little unpredictable.

I wanted to have something ready to go as soon as they walked through the door but I needed something that would still taste great if it had to wait on them and the Sausage & Pepper Calzones were ideal.

Of course the filling options are endless and you should use what you like and improvise with what you have on hand.  This is one of those meals that's great to make ahead and you can pack the leftovers for lunch.

I am tooting the horn for some of my favorite products here today.  There are so many choices these days and I just thought I would give a shout out to some of my favorites that are tried and true.  Look for them at your local market if you haven't tried them before, you will be glad you did!  There are links in the recipes to each company's website.

I'd love to hear your opinions as well, what are some of your favorite brands to cook with?

Sausage & Pepper Calzones

Ingredients:

for filling:

• 1 package 19 oz Italian Sausage (I used Johnsonville)
• 2 cups sliced mini sweet peppers
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 6 oz can whole black olives, sliced
• 1 ½ cups shredded cheese, I used Colby-Jack but Mozzarella would be good too

for crust:

• 4-5 cups all purpose flour (King Arthur)
• 1 package Red Star Platinum yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water (110°)
• 2 tablespoons Star Olive Oil with Garlic

for sauce:

• 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Cooking Directions:

for crust:

Add 2 cups of flour to a large mixing bowl, stir in yeast, sugar and salt.  Add water and olive oil and stir to combine.  Add additional flour ¼ to ½ cup at a time until dough comes together and pulls away from bowl.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.

Punch down dough and pour onto a floured surface and knead 5 minutes adding flour as needed.  Dough should be elastic but no longer sticky.

Pinch dough into 12 equal pieces.

for filling:
While dough rises prepare filling.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Remove casings from sausage and add to the skillet.  Using a spatula or wooden spoon, chop the sausage into small pieces as it cooks.  Continue to cook, stirring occasionally to brown all sides of sausage, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove sausage to a bowl and set aside, leaving drippings in the pan.

Return skillet to cook top and add peppers and onions, cook stirring often until onions are translucent and just start to brown.  Stir in sausage and olives.

Remove from heat and set aside.

to assemble:

Roll each dough ball into a 5 to 6 inch circle, spoon in about ¼ cup of filling and top with about 1 tablespoon of cheese. Fold dough over filling and pinch to seal.

Place on a greased or lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Bake at 400°F. for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

for sauce:

Add tomatoes to a food processor or blender and process for about 30 seconds.  Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer while calzones are baking.

Serve calzones with sauce.

*depending on how much filling  you add to your calzones, you may have filling left over.  I had about 1 to 2 cups left and I added it to breakfast hash and it was fantastic! You could also add it to an omelet.

Enjoy!

Miss