What’s the difference between a Calzone and a Stromboli? Anyone know? I didn’t. A few weeks ago, before we left for our east coast trip, J decided he wanted to make homemade dough for Stromboli’s. I kept calling them Calzones. So, whats the difference? Well, I didn’t take the time until now,…a month later as I type this, to finally figure out what the difference was between the two.

Turns out we made Calzones, not Stromboli. Wikipedia told me that it’s pretty much the way you put them together. Calzone’s are pockets of dough filled with the stuffings of your choice, while stromboli is the same thing, but rolled into a long loaf, resembling a burrito shape and then sliced to serve. So there’s your answer,..in case any of you were wondering and simply dyyyying to know!

So, homemade dough… You know what? It’s really not hard at all. You need a few hours, of course, to wait for it to rise. But, J and I decided earlier in the day we were going to venture into our dough making. It did take a few hours to rise and by the time we were ready to assemble the dough, it was a bit late for dinner (like 9:30 at night), but it was worth it and SO good.

The dough. Super easy. Flour, olive oil, salt, water, and rapid rising yeast. I found the recipe to the dough here.

Mix everything together. I used our cuisinart mixer to knead for a bit. But, you can also use your hands,…[so old fashioned, i know].  The above picture is BEFORE I mixed it in the cuisinart.

Stick the dough in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for about 1 1/2-2 hours until it’s doubled in volume. Once it rises, roll out the dough to a flat circle,…thin, but not too thin.

Fill it with whatever you wish! We did one tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooom, black olive, and basil and another with pesto, grilled chicken, spinach, and goat cheese. Both were delicious.

Fill the half side of the circle. Fold over. Pinch the edges shut. Secure it even more with a fork, by pressing down the edges. Much like you’d do a pie. Cut a few slits in the top. Stick it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

This is what it looked like when we first stuck it in the oven.

Sorry there’s no finished result. It was super late by the time it came out and we devoured it before we could snap a pic.

See, but doesn’t that prove to you that it was good. Delicious.