Stuffed Bread (Calzone)

This month's newsletter prompted me to dig through my "archives" for this 20 year old recipe. What I love about most about this recipe is that it allows you to be really creative and use whatever you have on hand for filling. You can assemble it ahead of time, so it's great to pop in the oven when company arrives. Note: If you cannot get fresh pizza dough in your local area bakery, pizzeria or supermarket (and you, like me, wouldn't have the patience to make dough from scratch! :-o), you can look in the dairy section for pizza dough in a can, the "poppin' fresh" kind, right next to the biscuits! I have also used frozen white bead dough in a pinch since you can keep it on hand in the freezer.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2  lbs  pizza dough, allowed to rise (If using frozen bread dough, allow time to thaw)
• 1  tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• Filling

• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 3⁄4 lb ground beef or 3⁄4 lb Italian sausage, removed from casing
• 1  onion, chopped
• 4  ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 2  green peppers or 2  red peppers, chopped
• 8  ounces  shredded cheese (may use mozzerella, cheddar, Monterey Jack, pepper jack)
• 1⁄4 cup romano cheese, grated
• 1  teaspoon dried oregano
• 1  dash cayenne (to taste) or 1  dash hot red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1⁄4 cup parsley, chopped
•  olive oil, for basting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat skillet and add oil.
3. Brown garlic, remove from pan. Brown beef and/or sausage and reserve.
4. Saute onion, mushrooms, and peppers until soft.
5. Add the browned meat, oregano, hot pepper, and parsley and mix through.
6. Roll out dough to 24" x 10". Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
7. Spoon the filling to form three 3" wide strips on the dough.
8. Sprinkle cheese over the filling.
9. Fold dough over, sealing the ends with fingers dipped in cold water.
10. Form loaf into horseshoe, lightly making Xs on top with a butter knife.
11. Brush lightly with oil.
12. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until dough turns light golden brown.