Braided Calzones

Are you overwhelmed with big intricate holiday meals lately! Whip up a finger food friendly dinner while you whip out some more wrapped presents!

So here is a quick and easy impressive appetizer or finger food for you.  Some nights my fiance and I like to chat over some beers and pick at finger foods, so I need to be on my toes with interesting finger food dinners.  A couple weeks ago I made chicken and cheese biscuit pockets.  This week I had some left over pizza dough in the fridge, which is always a good thing to have lying around- it is so versatile. 

I must confess this is not an original idea, I did see it on a tv commercial once- some sort of Mexican twist with a puff pastry instead.  Any dough, cheese or theme will work- it is just the fancy way of presenting it that's a winner.

AND I still have yet to purchase a new camera. I'm sorry I have been using my camera phone but I didn't want that to stop the blog! So we will have to make due until Santa brings me one ;)


Ingredients

• My homemade pizza dough
• 2 cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded or cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 green pepper, sliced or diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, sliced or diced
• Pecorino cheese (or Parmesan)- about 1/2 cup
• 1 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp of salt
• Olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp of oregano

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F
2. Make sure you are using cooked chicken.  I just cut them up into bite sized pieces and sauteed until cooked through.
3. Flour your working surface and then roll out your dough into a large rectangle shape.
4. Transfer the dough with your rolling pin to a pizza pan or baking sheet BEFORE you start adding the other ingredients (believe me, I made this mistake and had to take everything off, then put back on)
5. Add all your ingredients (except the oil and oregano) on the dough but leave a good 2 inches or so of dough on the edges.

6. Cut the edges into strips- make sure there are the same amount on each side.  You could use a knife but kitchen shears are SO much easier (and I didn't want to cut through the tinfoil)
7. Take a strip from each side and criss cross them at the top of the filling.  Continue to do this along the whole thing.  Don't worry if the ends are less than perfect- Just tuck them in/under so nothing oozes out.




8. Sprinkle the oregano on top and cover it in some oil so the bread will brown nicely.
9. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes- or until golden brown and firm. I also turned it around half way through to ensure even cooking/browning.









10. I sliced it into inch - inch and a half slices for finger food eating.

*This recipe can be molded to whatever you have- no chicken? Use beef or sausage.  Maybe you have a different kind of cheese or vegetables.  I actually thought broccoli would have been divine in this recipe.  Just make sure you cook the meat before building the calzone.  You don't want to risk uncooked proteins.  Puff pastry, biscuit dough and pizza dough all work here- just check the cooking times might vary a bit though.

Pinwheels and Calzones

So this past weekend I got engaged!  Super excited and hopefully I will be able to keep up with all the planning, work and my blog!  I think I'll manage- I mean, we still have to eat! 

(I also want to apologize for the sub-par photos- my camera is MIA right now!  The pics might not be as great- but it sure did taste awesome- I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of the finished cooked pinwheels- we ate them too fast!)

Anyway- so Sunday is Football day in our house and it usually means pizza too.  I changed it up a bit and made some pinwheels and calzones.  Start off with my pizza dough recipe and that will make about one dozen pinwheels and 4 calzones.  These are super versatile and you can use absolutely anything you want inside them both.  I used what I had in the fridge/freezer and dipped in my home made sauce. 

Pinwheels

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb. Pepperoni, sliced or chopped
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 small tomato, sliced
• about 1½ cups of mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 c. of your favorite tomato sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to about 450 degrees F
2. Make the dough and then divide into two pieces if you will be making both recipes (one for the pinwheels, one for the calzones), if not make double wheels or save the rest in the fridge
3. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle shape.  Make sure you use a lot of flour on the underside of the dough so it is easy to roll up.  Don't roll the dough too thin, we don't want it to rip, but if it does don't worry just patch it up- these are very rustic.
4. It is almost like we are making a Sicilian pizza.  Spread the sauce out very lightly and evenly.  Then top with all your toppings and gently roll up into a log.
5. Slice even sections about 1½ inches thick. 
6. Gently transfer to a baking sheet and squish the wheels together a bit so they keep their shape. 
7. Cook about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Calzones

• Use the remaining half of the dough you made
• 1½ c of mozzarella
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1 small onion diced
• 1½ c of broccoli (I used my own frozen and just defrosted and chopped up)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Pepperoni

Directions

1. I put the oven to 500 degrees F and then when they just started to get brown I lowered the heat to 350 degrees and let it go for another five minutes or so just so everything is cooked through- because these were thicker and I didn't want them to burn.
2. Separate your ingredients evenly into 4 piles (for each of the calzones to make it easier)
3. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle- like the pinwheels
4. Cut the dough into 4 rectangles.
5. Layer all our ingredients onto one side of the rectangle then just fold over the other side on top of everything- like a blanket.  Press the edges together to seal the calzone- you can even use a fork to make it look prettier. 
6. Gently slice a couple slits on the top of the calzone to let the steam out- otherwise it will explode.
7. I sprayed them with a little cooking spray and laid on a baking sheet, then popped in the oven  (See step one for oven directions)