BBQ Chicken Calzones

We are a pizza loving family. Mr. Pickypants loves Pepperoni, me and Taylor will eat just about any kind of pizza, but veggie or sausage and mushroom are my favorite. I wanted to make something other than the typical pizza. I thought about calzones. BBQ Chicken calzones.

I love BBQ Chicken pizza, but I changed it up with sharp cheddar cheese instead of the regular mozzarella because I like the the cheddar ad the BBQ sauce combination. The added cilantro makes this calzone awesome.

I made the dough from scratch, using the pioneer woman's pizza dough recipe. It makes 2 crusts, so with the left over dough I made bread sticks. Super yummy.

Everyone loved both the calzones and the bread sticks, even Mr. Pickypants!I will definitely be making these again.

BBQ Chicken Calzones

CALZONE INGREDIENTS:
3 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
1/2 small red onion, diced fine
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2/3 cups BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
2 tea. cilantro, chopped
2 tea. butter
1 egg, beaten
1 recipe pizza dough or 1 can already made pizza dough such as Pillsbury (Receipe Follows)

CALZONE DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a pan add the onion and shredded chicken to the butter. Fry over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in 1/3 cup of barbeque sauce, and remove from the heat.
3. Roll the pizza crust dough out onto a greased cookie sheet. Press out to an even thickness, and then cut in half. Divide the chicken mixture between the two pieces of dough, spreading on only half of each piece to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the filling. Sprinkle the cheese and cilantro over the top. Fold the uncovered portion of dough over the filling, and press the edges together with a fork to seal. Brush the top of the calzone with the beaten egg.
4. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned to your liking. Cool for a few minutes, then cut each calzone in half. Each serving is half of a calzone. These can be served with additional barbeque sauce if you like.

 PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE: Makes 2 crusts
Ingredients 
1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast 
1-1/2 cup Warm Water 
4 cups All-purpose Flour 
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt 
1/3 cup Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions  

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes. In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass. Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.