Sourdough Calzone Recipe From Scratch
The best sourdough calzone is made from scratch with wholesome ingredients, just like mine are! They’ve got a golden brown crust and a gooey, cheesy inside. We have these calzones all the time for our weekly pizza night at home. They’re so fun to make!
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If you want to make this recipe but don’t have a sourdough starter, no worries! Grab my free guide so you can make your own starter at home.
If you’re new to sourdough baking and feel hesitant, or you have questions, I’ve got something for you! I broke down the basics of what you need to know about sourdough baking in my free sourdough baking guide for beginners. I highly recommend grabbing a copy!
Every week in our house we have a sourdough pizza night. These calzones have become a favorite at least 2 weeks out of the month! We add all kinds of cheese and toppings inside to make them extra special.
My husband and I love creating our own flavors inside. I usually go with a cheese, onion, pepperoni, and green bell pepper mixture. While he goes with a three cheese or cheese and pepperoni combo.
What is a Calzone?
A calzone is pizza dough topped with toppings then folded in half to make a half moon pocket. The top is sliced to let it vent while baking and it’s brushed with egg wash. It’s so delicious! Think of a pizza pocket, it’s just like that.
What Goes Inside a Calzone? AKA The Toppings
You can put any ingredients you’d like inside a calzone! Here are some delicious ideas:
- 3 cheese: cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan
- Pepperoni lover: pepperoni, parmesan, and mozzarella
- Meat lover: bacon, sausage, ground beef, green bell peppers, onion, cheddar
- Veggie lover: bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, black olives, mozzarella
- Hawaiian: ham, bacon, cheddar, parmesan, pineapple
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to Make: The steps to make this recipe are super simple!
- Full of Benefits: The sourdough starter adds tons of gut benefits and makes this dough easier to digest.
- Customizable: You can add any toppings your heart desires to the insides of these calzones.
Tips for Making This Recipe
- Use an Active Starter: Before you start this recipe, make sure your sourdough starter is active and bubbly so it can rise the dough.
- Ensure the Dough Doubles: The dough needs to double in size during the bulk ferment. See the recipe card notes for help.
- No Marinara Inside: It’s best to leave the marinara sauce for dipping so it doesn’t bubble out and all over the pan. If you want it inside, use just a little.
- Have Fun with it: This recipe is meant to be fun! Add the ingredients you love and enjoy the process.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- fed sourdough starter (feed it 4-12 hours before using)
- water
- olive oil or avocado oil
- sea salt
- raw honey
- all-purpose flour
- Egg wash (egg + water)
- Toppings or choice (highly recommend cheddar and mozzarella cheese as a base)
- Marinara for dipping (best not to place inside the calzones so they don’t leak when baking)
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need
How to Make Sourdough Calzones
Make the Dough
Add all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine (dough will be shaggy).
Use your hands to bring dough into a ball (add 1 Tbsp extra water if needed).
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes.
Place dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel, Saran Wrap, or a lid loosely covering it for 10-12 hours until doubled in size. See notes for important and helpful info!
After it doubles in size, you can continue the recipe or place the dough in the fridge up to 48 hours if you need more time or to long ferment (at least 12 hours if you want to long ferment).
Shape and Fill the Calzones
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Dust the counter with a little flour, punch the dough down in the bowl, and turn the dough out on the floured surface.
Slice the dough into 3 pieces for small calzones or 2 for large calzones .
Roll each piece out into a circle about 1/4 inch thick (doesn’t have to be a perfect circle).
Place shredded cheese and other toppings of your choice in the center. Ensure there is 1 inch from the edges so you can seal the dough.
Brush the outside 1-inch edge of the dough where the toppings are not covering with egg wash.
Now take the dough and fold it in half to make a half moon shape over the toppings.
Use your fingers to seal the edges by pinching the dough together and rolling the ends upward to make a seam.
Carefully place the calzone on the prepared baking sheet they’ll need to be 1-2 inches apart.
Repeat filling and shaping with the other pieces of dough.
Bake Calzones
Make 3 small slices on the top of each calzone with a knife to let air out when baking.
Brush the outside of the calzones with the rest of the egg wash.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and completely cooked.
Let calzones sit for 5 minutes before you cut into them! Enjoy!
Calzone Cooking Timeline
- Make the dough the night before – 7 pm
- Place the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to make them – 7 am (next day)
- Get dough out of fridge and shape/fill calzones – 5 pm
- Bake calzones – 5:15 pm
- Let them cool – 5:45 pm
- Enjoy! – 5:50 pm
Prep This Recipe Ahead
My best tips to prep this recipe ahead of time:
- Make the dough 1-2 days before and place it in the fridge after bulk fermenting until you need it.
- Shred the cheese ahead of time and store in the fridge.
- Whip up any sauces to go with it ahead and store in the fridge.
- Cook any meats you plan to use in the calzone like beef, sausage, or bacon. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
- Cut up any veggies you’ll put in the calzone like onion, pepper, or jalapenos. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to make the calzones.
How to Store Calzones
Store calzones when they are completely cooled in a glass, air-tight container for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Best Way to Reheat Calzones
The best way to reheat calzones is on a sheet pan in the oven, preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm for 8-10 minutes or until hot.
How to Freeze Calzones
If you’d like to freeze calzones, I recommend you make them completely then freeze after they cool. Wrap each one in parchment paper and place them in a freezer-safe glass container or baggie. They’ll last up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to eat them, just place them frozen on a sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes until warm all the way through.
Best Way to Serve a Sourdough Calzone
You can serve calzones plain or with a dipping sauce! Our favorites are homemade marinara sauce and homemade garlic butter. My husband even likes his dipped in homemade ranch from time to time.
Recipe FAQs
Not at all! It’s the exact same just shaped differently.
Yes! Sourdough is a great substitute for yeast when making pizza dough. It adds gut benefits from the starter cultures and tastes amazing!
The only difference is sourdough pizza dough uses fed starter instead of yeast like regular pizza dough. Because of this, the sourdough pizza dough bulk ferments which adds gut benefits and is easier to digest.
It is best to use sourdough starter that’s been fed 4-12 hours before you use it. This will allow the dough to double during the bulk ferment.
More Sourdough Pizza Night Recipes
Sourdough Calzone Recipe
Sourdough Calzone Recipe From Scratch
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fed sourdough starter fed it 4-12 hours before using
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp raw honey
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- Egg wash (1 egg + 1 Tbsp water)
- Toppings or choice highly recommend cheddar and mozzarella cheese as a base
- Marinara for dipping best not to place inside the calzones so they don’t leak when baking
Instructions
Prep Your Starter
- BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. I recommend feeding it a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when you make this recipe. Example: Feed 1 cup flour + 1/2 cup water and let the starter sit on the counter at room temperature until it's bubbly and has grow in the jar. Your starter needs to be active, bubbly, and a thicker consistency to begin this recipe.
Make the Dough
- Add all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine (dough will be shaggy).
- Use your hands to bring dough into a ball (add 1 Tbsp extra water if needed).
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes.
- Place dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel, Saran Wrap, or a lid loosely covering it for 10-12 hours until doubled in size. See notes for important and helpful info!
- After it doubles in size, you can continue the recipe or place the dough in the fridge up to 48 hours if you need more time or to long ferment (at least 12 hours if you want to long ferment).
Roll Dough & Fill Calzones
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dust the counter with a little flour, punch the dough down in the bowl, and turn the dough out on the floured surface.
- Slice the dough into 3 pieces for small calzones or 2 for large calzones .
- Roll each piece out into a circle about 1/4 inch thick (doesn’t have to be a perfect circle).
- Place shredded cheese and other toppings of your choice in the center. Ensure there is 1 inch from the edges so you can seal the dough.
Prep Before Baking
- Brush the outside 1-inch edge of the dough where the toppings are not covering with egg wash.
- Now take the dough and fold it in half to make a half moon shape over the toppings.
- Use your fingers to seal the edges by pinching the dough together and rolling the ends upward to make a seam.
- Carefully place the calzone on the prepared baking sheet they’ll need to be 1-2 inches apart.
- Repeat filling and shaping with the other pieces of dough.
- Make 3 small slices on the top of each calzone with a knife to let air out when baking.
- Brush the outside of the calzones with the rest of the egg wash.
Bake & Enjoy!
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and completely cooked.
- Let calzones sit for 5 minutes before you cut into them! Enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure your starter is active! BEFORE YOU GET STARTED: Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. I recommend feeding it a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water to get the same results as I do when you make this recipe. Example: Feed 1 cup flour + 1/2 cup water and let the starter sit on the counter at room temperature until it’s bubbly and has grow in the jar. Your starter needs to be active, bubbly, and a thicker consistency to begin this recipe.
- Let the dough bulk ferment for 12 hours. It is important to let your dough bulk ferment for the full 12 hours. It should double in size and have air bubbles in it.
- Place the dough in a warm spot to rise. For both the bulk ferment and the second rise after shaping, your dough needs to be at room temperature in a non-drafty place.
- If your dough doesn’t look like it’s doing anything halfway through the rises, you need to place it in a slightly warmer area.
- This can be in a turned-off oven with the light on and oven door open, or you can slightly warm the oven to about 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit, then turn it off and place your dough inside with the door shut.
- Never leave the oven on, even on the keep warm setting, with fermenting dough inside. Your dough, for both rises, needs to double.
- If your dough doesn’t double even in the warmer area, there is a problem with your starter. It is too weak to ferment the dough even in a warm environment.
- To fix this, you will want to leave your starter out on the counter for 2 days and feed it every 12 hours at a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water.
- For example, 1 cup unbleached flour + 1/2 cup filtered (or bottled) water.
- Make sure you’re using unbleached flour and filtered or bottled water to do this. If you don’t, it will affect your starter strength. Reverse osmosis water (or any water that uses salt in the filter) can make the starter weak.
- This will strengthen the cultures in your starter to give you fluffy baked bread and treats. After the 2 days, you can go back to feeding it like usual (once a week if stored in the fridge or once a day if stored on the counter). Be sure to use the 2:1 ratio feeding from here on out.
Help! I understand feeding it 2:1 ratio of flour to water.But how much starter do you use for this amount of flour and water?
You’ll want to feed that ratio to your entire sourdough starter jar. So I always say if you have approximately 2 cups of starter in your jar, feed it 1 cup of flour + 1/2 cup water. Let me know if you have more questions!