If you crave pizza but your favorite pizzeria is closed for the holidays, don’t worry! With this calzone recipe, whose dough process can also be used for classic pizza, you will satisfy your palate in no time. Calzone is a leavened dough to be filled with different ingredients, fold back on itself and cook in the oven or in hot oil. With our recipe we offer you a calzone cooked in the oven in no time, with which you can unleash your creativity and imagination to create increasingly daring combinations of ingredients for the filling. We offer you the combination of tomato sauce, speck and mozzarella, but you can vary the filling according to your taste by stuffing the calzone with grilled vegetables and mozzarella, for a vegetarian version. If, on the other hand, you find yourself without an oven, why don’t you try the microwave pizza recipe?. Any excuse is good to eat a calzone or a pizza, and even more to try to prepare them at home, with very few ingredients and with a quick 20 minute cooking!

Preparation

1

Pour 250 ml of water, 10 g of salt, 1 pinch of sugar and 45 ml of extra virgin olive oil into a jug. Mix thoroughly.

2

Add the brewer’s yeast in pieces and mix until it dissolves completely.

3

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the liquid ingredients a little at a time.

4

When you add the liquids, start mixing with a fork, until you get a first dough.

5

When the dough is more compact, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands.

6

Continue to knead vigorously for at least 10 minutes. You will have to obtain a smooth, compact and lump-free dough.

7

Shape the dough into a round shape and transfer it to a bowl greased with oil. Cover the bowl with kitchen film.

8

Put the dough back in the turned off oven or in a place with a constant temperature of about 20°. It must rise until it reaches three times its initial volume. The rising time varies according to the temperature, so we advise you to check the dough at intervals of about 45 minutes.

9

When you notice that the dough has almost tripled its initial volume, prepare the sauce: pour the tomato sauce, 1 pinch of salt, oregano, 2 tablespoons of oil into a cup or small bowl and mix thoroughly.

10

When the dough has risen enough, divide it into four equal parts and knead one portion at a time, keeping the others covered by plastic wrap.

11

Roll out the dough on a pastry board, obtaining a disc of about 25-30 cm in diameter. You can roll it out with the help of a rolling pin.

12

Pour a few spoonfuls of the previously prepared tomato sauce onto half of the disc. Cover with 2 slices of speck and ¼ of the diced mozzarella.

13

Fold the dough over to form a half moon. Seal the edges well by pressing with your fingertips and fold them slightly to form a ledge. Proceed in the same way with the rest of the dough.

14

Transfer the calzone to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Pour about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce on the surface of the calzone. Then bake each calzone in a preheated static oven at 200° for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve piping hot!

Advice and tips

You can roll out the dough directly on the parchment paper. This will make it easier to move everything onto the tray.

You can replace half the dose of flour 00 with wholemeal flour, maintaining the same dose of liquids. Each flour absorbs differently, so be careful when working with it the mixture remains compact and strung. If it is too hard, add a little warm water.

You can use any type of mozzarella, such as buffalo or fiordilatte. The only trick is to squeeze it well before stuffing the calzone, so that it doesn’t release too much liquid during cooking.

You can substitute fresh brewer’s yeast with 5.5 g of dry brewer’s yeastmaking it dissolve in a finger of water before adding it to the other ingredients.

storage

It is advisable consume the calzone immediately. If there is any leftover, you can store it in the refrigerator for a maximum of 1 day, covered with aluminum foil. Heat it in the oven before serving.

If you have used all fresh ingredients you can freeze it raw and keep it in the freezer for about 1 month. Then cook it directly from frozen.

History

Calzone is a traditional dish of the Campania and Puglia, even if the two recipes are quite different from each other. In Campania it is customary to prepare the baked calzone or the “fried pizza” with ricotta, pork cracklings, salt and pepper, while in Puglia the calzone is called “panzerotto” and usually contains tomato, ham and mozzarella in its traditional version.