Pu

lunedì 28 dicembre 2015

MINI CALZONE WITH HAM AND CHEESE

Appetizer or entree - Can be vegetarian (read footnotes)

This was part of the appetizers for our Christmas meal, at friends house, and was quite successful. I modified a recipe used for another dish in the past, and turned out really good!! In the footnotes, you will find some suggestions you may find interesting (I hope ;-) ) and the link to our video. It's not difficult to prepare, at all, it only takes time, which you should always allow, when making pizza and similar dishes.
(thank you to Vittorio of Viva La Focaccia for the original recipe)


500 gr. Italian 00 flour (4 1/2 cup)
340 gr. lukewarm water (1 1/3 cup), during winter time water should be warm, but not too much (you should be able to keep your hand in it without discomfort).
30 gr. Italian extra virgin olive oil (about 3 tbsp)
7 gr. dry active yeast (1 envelope or 1 1/2 tsp)
7 gr. salt (1 1/2 tsp)
5 gr. sugar (1 tsp)
Ham and mozzarella, both shredded or cut, as needed


In a big bowl put the entire amount of water and dissolve the yeast with sugar, then add oil and half of the of the flour. It is very important that salt doesn't touch yeast. Start mixing until you obtain a smooth cream, then add salt and all the remaining flour. Mix and knead for about 4-5 minutes until the dough doesn't stick to the bowl anymore.

Dust a work surface with some flour and transfer the dough onto it, dust your hands with flour and knead for a few more minutes (if dough sticks too much, dust your hands with some more flour, then start again).

When you have a smooth dough, oil a big bowl, place the dough in, oil it so it won't get dry, and to cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap.

Let it rise for about 2 hours (or until it doubles in volume). Punch it down, fold it a couple times, then repeat the rising.

Divide the dough into 10 balls and let rise on a greased surface, covered with a towel, for 30-40 minutes. This will make it really easy to work with!

Pre-heat oven to 385 F.

With oiled hands, flatten the dough carefully without stretching it.

Arrange ham and mozzarella on it and fold, sealing the edges carefully. Place on a greased baking dish and bake for 12-15 minutes (or until golden) and serve immediately.

This recipe made 10 mini-calzoni.




- Other stuffing could be mozzarella and sausage, or mushrooms (or a combination of all of them ;-) ): basically, whatever you like!!
- With the exact same dough, you can prepare focaccia (like the one in the video) or pizza. Only thing that changes is the thickness ;-)
- As far as pizza goes, you can make it with San Marzano Italian tomatoes and whichever toppings you may prefer.
- You can freeze them, before baking (I haven't tried that, I cooked ours right away): wrap it (with several layers) and freeze separately. When you want to cook it, pre-heat oven and, when ready, remove them form freezer and transfer in the oven immediately (no plastic wrap, obviously ;-) ). It will take a little longer to cook.
- You can also freeze the single balls before the last rise, thaw and let rise when you need them.
- With this amount of ingredients, you can make 4 regular sized calzoni.
- Do not use any meats and you'll have a vegetarian calzone!
- You can find a video for the dough here (just remember to rise the whole dough twice and once, when shaped into balls). This was made when we prepared the herb focaccia.

Nessun commento:

Posta un commento