Calzones

Calzones have been a favorite of mine for a long time. What better way to enjoy your favorite meats, vegetables and spices in a dough filled wrap of deliciousness. A calzone allows all of the various fillings to mix in a delicious medley. They tasted as good as they look below.

Below are the following required ingredients for the dough: All purpose flour, sugar, salt, water and yeast. The dough amount may be cut in half if you don't want to also make a loaf of bread. I will be making 2 large calzones and nice loaf of bread.

First the 2 cups of water need to heated to 110 degrees F. The water doesn't have to be this exact, but you don't want it too hot to harm the yeast.

Add the water to your bowl with 1 tablespoon of water and a package of yeast. Wait 5 minutes to proof the yeast and bubbles should be forming.

Stir in one cup of all purpose flour  then add salt. Being mixing. Slowly add in a total of an additional 4.5 cups of flour.

At this point you can knead the remaining 1/2 cup of flour in by hand or slowly incorporate it into the dough ball in the mixer. 

When you are allowing the dough to rest for a few minutes after removing from the mixer, ensure your bowl is clean and well oiled. I always use a small amount of olive oil and brush around the bowl.

The brushed out oil is seen below. There needs to be enough to stop sticking as well as having a slight amount of excess to coat the dough ball.

Knead the dough for a few more minutes. The dough should be smooth, elastic and full of life. I.e. when you poke it, it bounces back.

Place the dough in the bowl and roll around to evenly coat the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place. I normally use a slightly heated oven. Note the word slightly as it should still be cool enough to touch with your hand.

When the dough is rising and you are waiting for it to double in size, I began chopping vegetables and preparing the filling for the calzones. The filling is completely up to you, just ensure it isn't too wet. I am going to use onion, green pepper and hot Italian sausage. Below is the chopped onion and green pepper.

I decided to saute them to give them a nicer softer taste before baking in the finished calzone.

At this same time I am boiling the sausage. I forgot to thaw them so I am boiling more water than normal to adequately cook them. Sorry for the bad picture as the steam is blocking the view, but this is the best that I could do.

The finished sauteed vegetables about ready to be added to the calzone dough.

The finished Italian sausage in the process of being cut up into nice small pieces. Yummy.

At this point the dough has doubled in size and has been removed from the bowl. I cut it in half with my dough scraped and cut one of the halfs in halfs again. Half of the dough is placed in an oiled bread pan ready to be baked later after it has time to rise. The other two pieces will be used for the two calzones.

The two pieces after being rolled out into two large flat sheets. I rolled the sheets out into two large rectangles that were relatively thin.

Then, add a thin layer of spaghetti sauce to the bottom half of each. This is my personal taste preference and you can place anything inside that you want.

A picture of the stuffing inside my calzone. It includes Italian sausage, green peppers, onion, ricotta cheese, pepperoni, and a few shredded cheeses.

Fold of the calzones and pinch the edges. I also folded over the edges as I had extra dough to ensure a tighter seal when baking. Allow them to rise for 45 minutes.

Brush the calzones with an egg wash made of a single egg and a tablespoon of water. Brush liberally over the top of calzones and throw away the leftovers. 

Place them on a baking sheet that is either oiled or covered in a dusting of corn meal. I opted for corn meal.

Slash the tops of the calzones right before baking. You could also poke the tops of the calzones with a fork all over. To cut the dough you will need to have a nice sharp knife. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes and 400F for another 15 mintues.

Half way through baking when the temperature is reduced by 50 F.

The finished calzones looking delicious. I was quite proud of myself of how well they turned out. They tasted even better then they looked though each was turned out to be quite large as I could barely eat half of one.

Here is the finished loaf that was previously talked about as soon as it was removed from the oven.

The loaf once removed from the oven. It isn't the prettiest of loafs I have created, but its not too bad.

Recipe

2 cups of 110F water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet of yeast
6 cups of bread flour
1 tablespoon of salt

Add the water to your bowl with 1 tablespoon of water and a package of yeast. Wait 5 minutes to proof the yeast and bubbles should be forming. Stir in one cup of all purpose flour  then add salt. Being mixing. Slowly add in a total of an additional 4.5 cups of flour. Knead the remaining 1/2 cup of flour into the dough. When you are allowing the dough to rest for a few minutes after removing from the mixer, ensure your bowl is clean and well oiled. Add dough to bowl and allow to double in size. Take half the dough if using the full recipe and roll into rectangles. Add fillings and pinch edges closed. Allow to rise for 45 minutes. Brush with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes at 450F and 15 minutes at 400F. Enjoy.