Calzones & Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

It has been over a month since I updated the blog.  It has been pretty busy in the house with the Christmas holiday, traveling out of state to see family, and most recently, caring for my father while he had a knee replacement.

I missed the kitchen and we had some challenges eating as healthy as I would have liked.  We survived on fresh fruit and most of my free time was absorbed with baking bread or putting together a quick homemade casserole to live on.  I really missed the kitchen.. especially when my only Christmas gift was a beautiful KitchenAid food processor.  It is a big one and takes quite a bit of counter space but it is so worth it.  I can chop onions for recipes, slice potatoes for scalloped potatoes and ham, and blend Citrusy Mashed Squash easily.

So this week I made homemade "hot pockets" or Calzones.  I used a chicken mixture and baked them inside of a whole wheat pizza crust.  They were so good that they passed the WHOLE FAMILY challenge.  Journey LOVES them (because there are no vegetables in them), Mike loves them because they are easy to heat up and grab, and my parents even loved them when I took a couple over to help mom feed dad during his recuperation at home.   So in a nutshell, you know they are GOOD!

The outsides are a snap to make.


Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
5 cups whole wheat flour (you can substitute store bought flour but sprouted and ground fresh is definitely best!)
1 tsp salt  (sea salt or mineral salts are best!)
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I buy in bulk but that is equal to 2 pouches if you have those around)
2 cups warm water (Ideally should be between 100 and 120 degrees but I now just test it to touch)
Mix all ingredients together (love the KitchenAid Mixer for this job!), knead for 3-4 minutes, then let the dough to “rest” for about 10 minutes.  This recipe will make 2 pizzas or about 10 Calzones depending on the size you make them.

The Insides
Here is the fun part.  While the Mixer is mixing, kneading, and letting the dough "rest", you can make the filling.  Get creative!  We made chicken and cream cheese calzones but you could use any filling!  We are planning to try some "taco calzones" and some pizza calzones in the future!

Recipe for cream cheese chicken filling:
2 TBSP olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup onion (minced)
2 cloves garlic (minced or pressed)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 TBSP butter
4 ounces of cream cheese (1/2 a brick)
1/4 tsp garlic salt or seasoned salt
2 TBSP milk

In a large pan, cook the onions, garlic and chicken in the olive oil on medium heat.

In another bowl, beat the cream cheese and melted butter.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Now you have the filling for the calzones.  This is the time you can get creative!  Add vegetables, change the seasonings, change the meat, add cheese... whatever you like!  I was tempted to add little baby peas or spinach to this filling but opted for simplicity so others in my family would really enjoy them.. so I added a little shredded cheddar cheese to my finished product!

To fill and finish the calzone
Divide the pizza dough into many equal small balls.  Roll or press each dough ball out on waxed paper or silicone cutting board surface so you can work well with it.  I pressed them as thin as I could and still hold in the stuffing.

Fill each one with the fillings and fold in half, sealing the sides.  Place on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish.  I brushed each of them with more butter and garlic before baking so they would be good and yummy and then sprinkled a little parsley on top of them.

Bake at 375 for about 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.

You can store these in the refrigerator when cool and heat them up in the microwave (I prefer oven or toaster oven - it only takes about 10 minutes in the oven right from the refrigerator).

You can also freeze these.  Either before or after baking them.... and have bags of handy healthy meals to eat on the go.  If freezing them unbaked, you can bake them later from this frozen state in a 375 degree oven for 25 - 35 minutes.

Try these yourself and let me know what fillings you used and how your family likes them!  I once lived in Omaha and we had a restaurant there called Runza Hut.  They served the best little meat filled sandwiches like these but theirs had ground beef, seasoning, cheese, and cabbage... I MUST try some of those soon.