Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Fill the Dough
- Stretch the pizza dough out into as round a shape as possible, the same as you would for a pizza.
- Spread pizza sauce over half of the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch bare around the edge. That border is your seal, so keep sauce and cheese out of it.
- Lay the fresh mozzarella over the sauce, then add the pepperoni and any other toppings.
- Drizzle olive oil over the filling, then sprinkle Italian seasoning over the top.
Fold, Seal and Vent
- Fold the empty half of the dough over the filling. Line up the edges and pinch them together all the way around, working the whole seam so there are no gaps.
- Cut three small slits across the top. These let the steam escape where you chose rather than through the seal.
- Drizzle olive oil over the top.
Bake
- Cook in a pizza oven or home oven at approximately 500°F to 600°F until the dough is cooked through, the calzone is puffed up, and the outside is golden brown and crispy. At this heat it moves fast, so watch it closely.
Notes
The half inch border is the seal: Sauce or cheese in that zone stops the two layers of dough sticking to each other, and that is where the filling pushes out once it heats up.
Cut three slits: Steam builds fast inside a sealed calzone. Give it somewhere to vent or it will find the weakest point in your seal.
Why the high heat: At 500°F to 600°F the moisture in the dough flashes to steam and puffs the crust into a hollow shell with a crisp exterior. At 400°F that moisture leaves slowly and the dough dries out instead.
Home oven: Run it at maximum with a long preheat, ideally with a stone or steel inside holding the heat.
Timing: Cook time and servings are estimates. Neither the memo nor the source recipe specified a duration. Go by puffed, golden and crispy, and watch it closely at this temperature.