Calzones are amazing. They’re essentially hand-held pizzas, the Cornish pasties of the pizza world. The outside of the dough is crisp but the inside steaming, soft and pillowy. They’re packed with cheese and any fillings you want. Completely versatile, and perfect for a Saturday night.
This recipe is really simple, with minimal effort required. Start preparing the dough late afternoon and you’ll have perfect calzones by dinner time.
The recipe below is for 2 calzones, which will feed two hungry people or 4 if you pair with a salad or other sides. The fillings are totally customisable. I’d recommend a ratio of 1:1:1 ricottta to mozzarella to cheddar to get that perfect mix of creaminess and stringiness, but you can absolutely change that if you wish. With the cheese you can add veggies, pepperoni, or even more cheese if you wish. My favourite is mushroom, tomato, anchovies and olives.
Enjoy!
~Dom Eats!
Calzones
Ingredients
Dough
- 7 g Dried Active Yeast
- 230 ml Water warm
- 320 g Bread Flour
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 Egg beaten
Filling
- 100 g Ricotta
- 100 g Mozzarella grated
- 100 g Cheddar grated
- 200 g Fillings of Your Choice
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the yeast, sugar and warm water and leave for 5 minutes to get frothy. Stir in the salt, oil and flour.
- Knead dough for about 5-10 minutes by hand or on low in a stand mixture, until very smooth and elastic. Don't worry if it doesn't come together into a ball.
- Shape into a rough ball and coat with a little olive oil. Leave to rise for 1 hour or until about double in size. Knock down the dough (give it two or three turns by hand) and then leave for another hour, until doubled in size again. While waiting, preheat the oven to 220°c/200°c fan and prepare your filling.
- For the filling, simply mix together the cheeses and any fillings you desire. I've used fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, anchovies and olives in this recipe.
- Separate dough into two equal portions and on a floured surface, roll out into rough rounds approximately 25 cm in diameter. Spoon half the filling just off the centre of each pizza, making sure not to spread the filling to the edges.
- Fold over each pizza and crimp the edges or press down the edges with a fork.
- Transfer the two calzones to a baking sheet, brush with beaten egg and bake for around 20 minutes or until golden brown.
