Description
A Pepperoni & Sausage Pizza Calzone made with low carb keto dough.
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1 egg
- For the filling:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage (or links cut open)
- 1/2 – 1 white onion (chopped)
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper (chopped)
- 1/2 cup pepperoni slices
- 1/2 cup provolone cheese (chopped or shredded)
- 1/2–1 cup marinara sauce (low carb if needed, more or less depending on preference)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp herbs de provence or mixed herbs such as parsley (thyme, basil, etc.)
- For topping (if desired:)
- extra marinara sauce
- fresh basil
Instructions
- For the dough: In a bowl, add cream cheese and mozzarella and microwave for one minute. Stir well and then put back in the microwave for another minute. Stir to combine. Add in egg and stir again, combining well, then add in almond flour. This should start to resemble dough. Set aside in the freezer or fridge for 15 minutes.
- For the filling: In a pan over medium heat, add olive oil and onion and cook until onion has slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add in bell pepper and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add in Italian sausage and break up using a spatula.
- Once Italian sausage is cooked, about 7 minutes, pour in marinara sauce and reduce heat to medium low. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg and mix in herbs.
- Take dough out of fridge and place on a piece of plastic wrap or a greased cutting board. Cut into pieces depending on how many calzones you want to make. This amount of dough will make two very large ones or four to five smaller ones.
- Roll out each piece of dough into a circle shape on plastic wrap using a rolling pin or place a piece of plastic wrap on top of dough and roll out using a wine bottle.
- Don’t make too thin or the dough will break, try to make it around 1/4″ thick. Once it’s rolled out, add filling to one side. Layer on pepperoni slices and provolone cheese then fold over the other side of the dough. Make sure to press firmly on the dough to make sure it’s closed.
- Continue with remaining dough and filling.
- Once calzones are made, brush lightly with egg and herb mixture over the top.
- Put calzones on a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Cook at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Top with fresh basil and serve with extra marinara sauce, if desired.
- If you want to make this even lower carb, omit the onion and red bell pepper. Also, make sure to use a low carb marinara sauce. Nutrition facts will vary depending on the type of sauce used.
Notes
This dough can be a bit tricky to work with but there a few things you can do to make it easier:
Make sure you’re using almond flour and not almond meal. Almond flour creates the correct consistency for this dough whereas almond meal makes it gritty and more likely to fall apart.
Once the dough is created, you can put it in the fridge or freezer for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with. You can also rub your hands with olive oil to make it easier.
The easiest way I have found to fold this dough over without tears or it falling apart is to set it on plastic wrap and then lift one side to fold it over the other. The dough easily peels off the plastic making it much easier than using your hands.
To fold the edges, you can either roll them up or you can press them together and use a fork, pressing down on the edges to seal them.