Cheesy stuffed calzones...

Today brings us to yet another Friday Night Pizza! Jeff and I tossed some ideas back and forth on what sounded good for this week and we both agreed that a calzone would fit the bill. Now we just needed to figure out what to stuff inside... we settled on these Red Pepper, Fontina and Prosciutto Calzones because we knew we would already have all the ingredients on hand and didn't need anything from the market... score!

That is one of the reasons I've really fallen for this homemade whole-wheat pizza dough we usually prepare for these pizza nights. Flour, salt, yeast, a tiny sprinkling of sugar, water and a few dribbles of olive oil (all pantry staples in this house and easy to remember!) are all you need to toss this swank dough together - you don't even need a food processor to make it as your hands would do just fine, but it does make it come together in a snap.

We used the pound version for this dough as the fillings will be quite generous - we first quartered the soft mass of dough, stretched each into a rough round and began piling on the goodies. Shredded fontina cheese was our first layer, follow by roasted red peppers, fresh basil, strips of salty prosciutto and to add a fun tang, crumbles of soft goat cheese. This mound is pretty high, so you'll need to gently stretch the dough over the top and match it to the other side - don't be tricked into thinking it won't all fit as the dough is pretty forgiving and will work with you, rather than against.

Be sure to crimp the edges tightly to ensure the fillings don't leak out - you could just use a fork and mash the two edges together, but since this is so full, pull the bottom edge of dough up and over the top and then just use your fingers to press the two together. To give some added color, we drizzled each calzone with a bit of olive oil and then massaged it in before sliding them onto the pizza stone to cook. By the time the crust is a rich golden brown, the insides will be all gooey, pipping hot and melted together.

Do I even need to say anymore? We thought these were excellent... especially with the use of the buttery fontina paired against the creamy goat cheese that went smashingly well together. The zing from the basil and the sweetness in the red pepper, dancing around the savory prosciutto, was simplistic in nature, yet complex enough in taste that made for a captivating minefield as we dug deeper into these individual pizza bundles.

Recipes

Red Pepper, Fontina and Prosciutto Calzones