Pizza: calzone and cheesy garlic bread in one

Make your own pizza... call it what you will

I was making pizza at home the other day, (Great Pizza recipe below... keep reading) and as it happens not everybody likes the same topping.

Our solution up until now has been to make lots of pizzas with different toppings, maybe splitting the pizza in half or quarters because you can't bake 5 pizzas in one go, at least not in my oven.

But splitting the pizza like that has it's disadvantages, the main one being, I find, is that pizza toppings don't respect borders or boundaries. They don't care which half of the pizza they should stick to.

The flavors from toppings like blue cheese, or pepperoni or pineapple or pretty much anything that releases oils, liquids or melts easily is going to find its way all over the pizza and "contaminate" other parts of the pizza.

Nobody said sharing was easy.

Leading us back to the original solution of making individual pizzas.

I have issues with this method too, it means that someone is going to eat first and someone is going to eat last, unless you want to wait, in which case someone is going to have a cold pizza and someone is going to burn their tongue.

Then there's the whole issue of the garlic bread, as a side dish.
When is the right time to make that?
First? - so that everyone can enjoy it as a starter?
Split the difference?- make it midway?
or
Last?- so that the people who got their pizzas first have filled up on it and leave more for you? 
I'm usually the one who ends up eating last.

Maybe it's not really that big an issue... I don't know...
These things have a way of sorting themselves out for themselves.
But it got me thinking...
And when that happens... there's no turning back.
  
My solution...
The remember the calzone?
It's a kind of stuffed pizza, where the toppings are piled up on half the pizza and covered with with the other half. You end up with half a pizza stuffed with three times the topping of a normal one, can't go wrong.

The Icelandic name for it translates into Crescent Moon Pizza, which I like. I think it captures the meaning quite nicely.

I did a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and added some oregano...

Here's what I did.
I'm torn between calling it the
the Calzone Corner Pizza
or
the Custum Corner pizza
(help me decide)

Anyways...

Flatten the pizza dough into a square.
Even if I'm not making the calzone corners I like the square pizza, there's more room for toppings.

Add your pizza sauce (or ketchup and spices) as per usual, but only in the corners.
Leave lots of room in between the circles....

Add a topping of your choice.





Here I grated cheese, put some pepperoni squares and some pineapple chunks and little bits of ham. (definitely not kosher)







Fold in the corners

Cover your pizza toppings with the corners of dough by pulling them over and towards the center of the pizza.


Press the corners down so that there is less chance of the insides turning into outsides.


By doing this you have created the pizza equivalent of "no-man's land".

Even if some juicy flavors were to escape from your folded corners and roll on towards the center, no harm done..
They sit in the cheese (see next step) closest to their designated quarters.


Now...

Make garlic bread
Use the empty space in between to make the garlic bread, don't put any pizza sauce underneath.

Sprinkle cheese in the empty spaces between your stuffed corners.

Be generous with the
- pizza cheese,
- chopped fresh garlic
- grated Parmesano Reggiano

- slithers of red onion

Like like this.......



Bake the Stuffed Pizza in oven
200 dC
for
10 min
or
until Golden Brown



Serving it up
When the home made custom calzone corner Pizza looks ready, take it out of the oven, drop a little pizza sauce on each corner, some cheese and sprinkling of parmesano and let it rest for a few minutes.

Brush some garlic oil on the cheesy center.

Cut into 4 triangles

Plate up and everyone can eat at the same time.

This slice of stuffed pizza is the equivalent of at least two generous slices of regular pizza, in addition it is surrounded by tasty soft garlic bread.


Now the Pizza dough recipe as promised:
(Makes two pizzas)

You will need:
700 gr. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. yeast

280 ml. water
120 ml. oil
80 ml. beer

Yes there's beer in it.
Mix the dry stuff in one bowl and the liquids in another.
Stir together at first, when that is not possible anymore, knead for 5 min.
Leave to rest in the bowl under a damp cloth for 30 min.
Split the dough in half.
Then make pizza.

Remember
I'm torn between calling it the
the Calzone Corner Pizza
or
the Custum Corner pizza
(help me decide)

As always...
 
Happy baking