Caramelized Onion Stuffed Pizza

What makes this “Stuffed Pizza” and not a calzone? I am not really sure, but my Great Aunt and Grandmother sure had a very specific definition. Let me start at the beginning. I was out to lunch with my Great Aunt Nancy, and I was having pizza. She asked if I ever had stuffed pizza. “Like a calzone?” I asked. “No, it’s thin and flat like a pizza, and has caramelized onions, your great grandmother used to make them for me and your grandmother when we were younger.” I told her I liked to mix caramelized onions with ricotta and pepperoni. “But then that would be a calzone.” she replied. I was confused, so I invited her and my grandmother over to make some stuffed pizzas to hopefully clear things up.

Caramelizing the onions. The filling seemed like the most important part in these stuffed pizzas. Very simple fillings.

Thin stretched dough, folded over the toppings.

Brush on olive oil before and after cooking.

Still looks like a calzone to me. Very tasty though!

As I made the spinach and tomato variety, my grandmother and aunt watched very closely to be sure that I put a lot of spinach and a very small amount of diced tomatoes.  For some reason, it seemed to be very important that the spinach was dry.

Again, very simple, very tasty. I would have put feta in this, but I think that would have been too calzone-y for them. I was trying to make these stuffed pizzas the way they remembered!

This was a fun lunch for me, learning about some family food history (but NOT learning the difference between stuffed pizzas and calzones). To make these I used a peel and stone in the oven at 550 degrees. I made my own dough, but made it a bit drier than I used to when I was rocking the pizza oven. If you want more info on dough, sauce, or other pizza stuff, check out pizza week. I had a ton of leftover dough, so I had some guys over for a mini pizza party that saturday and it was awesome!