It's easy to make a perfect Italian Calzone at home with fresh, homemade pizza dough and your favorite pizza toppings, like peppers, cheese and pepperoni! This calzone recipe is cheesy, flavorful, baked to a perfect golden brown and served with marinara sauce for dipping.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat now.
If your pizza dough is in the refrigerator, remove it now and place it on the counter to bring it up to room temperature.
Add the olive oil to a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat.
Add the bell pepper and onion, saute for 4-5 minutes, add the garlic and saute for another minute.
Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning.
Use your hands to stretch the pizza dough out into a large circle, approximately 1/4 inch thick, on a floured surface.
On one half of the pizza dough, arrange the pepperonis in a single layer. Top with the shredded mozzarella cheese, sautéed bell peppers and Italian seasoned ricotta cheese.
Fold the other half of the dough over the fillings. Pinch the dough together, then fold the edge of the dough over in the opposite direction. Crimp the edges again to create a double seal.
Brush the egg wash over the dough.
Cut three 2 inch slits in the top of the pizza dough.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and the remaining ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning.
Place in the oven on a pizza stone, or large baking sheet, and bake for 12-14 minutes.
Remove from the oven and slice into 4-6 pieces. Serve with marinara sauce on the side for dipping.
Notes
For this calzone, I used the pizza dough recipe from Kurt’s Famous Pan Pizza. It’s easy to make using a bread machine, stand mixer or hand mixer. You can also purchase store-bought pizza dough. It’s usually found in a refrigerator near the deli section of the grocery store.
Always bring the pizza dough to room temperature before starting the recipe. Whether you make your own pizza dough, or purchase pre-made dough at the grocery store, you always want to leave it out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before making the recipe. This will warm the dough up and make it much easier to work with.
Never use a rolling pin to roll out the dough! You always want to use your hands to stretch the dough vs. rolling it with a rolling pin. Rolling the dough will push out all of the air in the dough, resulting in a tough texture vs. a light and airy texture.
If you have a pizza stone, I recommend using it to cook the calzone. If using a stone, place it in the oven before you start the recipe. As the oven heats up, so will the stone. If you don’t have a pizza stone, no worries, a large baking sheet will also work. I recommend lining it with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
To make this calzone vegetarian, omit the pepperoni and use a vegetarian parmesan-style cheese. Feel free to add vegan meatballs or vegetables, like spinach and mushrooms, in place of the pepperoni.
Leftover calzone will stay good in the refrigerator for 5 days, stored in a sealed container.
To reheat the calzone, preheat the oven to 350°F, wrap the calzone in foil and place it in the oven for 15 minutes.