Calzones!

So this week I tried something I’ve never done. I made my own pizza dough. It was interesting. Throughout the whole process I was pretty cynical and kept thinking, “this isn’t going to work. there’s no way this is going to work. we’re going to have to go eat at McDonald’s.” But actually it wasn’t a disaster… here’s how the process went…

On Monday I started the dough. I had to mix the yeast and flour together and let it “rest” for 8 hours.

Then in the morning I added the rest of the ingredients. It said to add 2.5-3.5 cups more of flour. I added about 4 cups and it was still SUPER moist and sticky. I had to add even more and ran out of flour. I was pretty nervous that it took so much and was convinced I had screwed it up from the start.

This was my baking/cooking partner for the day. Isn’t she cute?

After the dough rested and rose, this is what it looked like:

Yeah. So you can see where I was doubting myself. On to the calzones!

Sautéing mushrooms with olive oil and garlic and spinach in the other pan.

It always looks like so much spinach but it cooks down so much.

I rolled out the dough and put it on the calzone mold. Now I’m supposed to be able to just fill this, fold the mold and press it together and then transfer it to the stone to cook. I did that. and this happened: (forgive the blurry photo)

*&(@ calzone mold. From then on I made the dough a little thicker and pre-folded it myself. I used the mold to just seal the edges of the calzone. Then I made the sauce.

I just make my own sauce. It’s super easy. A can of each of these, a few  spices, simmer & done. Kind of in-between jarred sauce and completely homemade.

After baking for 12 minutes at 500 degrees, they were done.

I was actually pretty surprised; they were great! I definitely didn’t think making the dough from scratch was worth it, but I’m glad I know HOW to do it and that it came out without us having to make a late dinner trip for fast food. I think next time I make calzones I’ll do a different filling with a little more cheese too, although this one was tasty.

Yay for another baking triumph!

Tomorrow I’m going to try to make a danish. Results to come!