These crowd-pleasing Mini Pepperoni Calzones are easy to make and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner or the kids’ lunchbox!
Baker loves pizza, but packing a whole slice in his lunchbox can be a bit messy. Therefore, I decided to wrap his favorite pizza ingredients in my go-to pizza dough to create these great little calzones that he can easily eat with his hands. Calzones are nothing new, but to Baker, these Mini Pepperoni Calzones are the greatest invention ever! He was begging for one at every meal (including breakfast) after I made them the first time!
I like my pizza warm, so I prefer to reheat these in the oven or microwave, but I know a lot of people that love eating cold or room temperature pizza so your kiddo might not even want to microwave the calzone at school.
And, of course, you can use any pizza toppings you want. It would even be fun to set up a “make-your-own-calzone-bar” with a variety of your family’s favorite pizza toppings and let each person fill their own calzone! I know we don’t all have time for this idea on a busy weekday, but maybe a fun Friday family night?!
Enjoy!
Mini Pepperoni Calzones
- Prep Time: 50 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Main
Description
These crowd-pleasing calzones are easy to make and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner or the kids’ lunchbox!
Ingredients
- 3 cups Gold Medal® Better for Bread™ bread flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2–1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup very warm water (120° to 130°)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup pizza sauce
- 1 package pepperonis
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 1 cup flour with sugar, salt and yeast. Add olive oil and warm water. Beat on medium speed 2-3 minutes, scraping bowl frequently.
- Stir in remaining flour until just combined. Switch to a dough hook and knead dough for 5-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. If you don’t have a dough hook, place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead with your hands 8-10 minutes.
- Leave the dough in the bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a 4 to 5 inch round bowl to measure out circles by placing the bowl on the dough and cutting around it with a knife.
- Place the dough rounds on lightly greased baking sheets.
- Put 1 tablespoon of pizza sauce, 5 pepperonis and a spoonful of mozzarella on the center of each round leaving about 1/4 inch around the edges.
- Brush edges with the beaten egg. Fold each circle over and seal edges with a fork. Brush the top of each calzone with the egg, sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese and a touch of Italian seasoning.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp around the edges.
