A Real Italian Calzone

You may ask yourself is there such a thing as a real italian calzone. The answser is yes, a real italian calzone is made without tomato sauce inside of it. I wanted to make calzones for dinner and this is the version that I decided to go with. Randy and I both really liked them. Yummy!

Real Italian Calzone

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup diced pepperoni

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the oil, sugar and salt; mix in 1 cup of the flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour, until dough is smooth and workable. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until it is elastic. Lay dough in a bowl containing 1 teaspoon olive oil, then flip the dough, cover and let rise for 40 minutes, or until almost doubled.

While the dough is rising, combine the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni in a large bowl. Mix well, cover bowl and refrigerate to chill.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. When dough is ready, punch it down and separate it into 2 equal parts. Roll parts out into thin circles on a lightly floured surface. Fill each circle with 1/2 of the cheese/meat filling and fold over, securing edges by folding in and pressing with a fork.

Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot with a bowl of tomato or spaghetti sauce to top if you choose.