Calzones: Gary's killer kalzones REvisited!

People have been asking:  "hey, how do you make them calzones again????" and on the one hand, I like to be CHIC and mysterious...and keep my secrets.  That keeps you reading!  I tantalize you with glimpses of my awesome life!  Like NOOK here, the dog that my beagle loves, and who I walk several times a week.....dang, you can see, he is the BEST.



BUT, OK, so I have the evening classes, the daytime dog walking and the OH YES pottery that is s'posed to be my primary job....but here is the brilliance of calzones.  I made 7 HUGE ones Monday, which means the leftovers sit in the fridge, ready for the last minute dinner prep for a couple of evenings, and oh MY, they get more luscious as they sit in there, flavors combining brilliantly.
You can fill calzones with anything.  I have used a little tomato sauce with onion, "cheese", "sausage", peppers, but our favorite is the spinach, potato, mushroom ones like the ones pictured here!****  I want  to try that with broccoli rather than spinach some time, and even try chopped apple and raisins someday for a breakfast calzone.... YUM!

****Gary's calzones!

-In a large bowl, place 2 1/4 teas. yeast, 1/2 teas. sugar and 1 1/2 cup warm water.  Stir briefly, then let it sit a few minutes until really foamy.
-Stir in garlic powder, basil, oregano, pepper flakes, 2 TBS olive oil, then stir in 2 1/2 cups flour.  Stir in a little bit more flour at a time until it is not sticky.
-Roll dough out onto a floured counter, knead the dough for awhile until it is lovely.  Place into an oiled bowl covered with a towel to rise, about an hour or so.
-THEN preheat oven to 400.
-For easy peasy calzone:  finely dice bell pepper, onion, "cheese" mushrooms, "sausage", whatever you like.  Open a jar of spaghetti or tomato sauce.
-Punch down dough, divide into 6-9 small balls.  6 would be enormous, 9 would be small.  For us, 7 or 8 is a good size each.
-Flatten ball with your hand, then roll with the rolling pin to about an 8 inch circle, not too thin.
-Spoon a little tomato sauce--do NOT use too much--then add some of the fillings.  You need to fold the  dough over easily, and fold the edges together easily, so be careful of overfilling.  It is hard to move a filled uncooked calzone, so I usually form them in place on the cookie sheet where it will be baked.
-crimp the edge with a fork, and slice openings across the top for vents.
-once you have them all laid out neatly on a cookie sheet or 2, bake 20-25 minutes.  They will look PERFECTLY golden.
-they are super hot at first, so they can cool a couple minutes before eating, leave extras on your wire cooling rack and put in the fridge for another day.

I CANNOT say this enough:  they are EASY, and DELICIOUS!  Try other fillings! Let me know how it goes!