Sourdough Calzone

EVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #31

Recipe: Sourdough Calzone

Sourdough Calzone is a crusty, delish, oven baked, folded pizza. Add any stuffing of your choice. Make them small to enjoy as a sandwich or bake a big one to enjoy as a main meal with some salad.

Updated on 07/08/2020

I must admit that when I first made calzone at home it was as flat as a pancake. Though the taste was amazing, the single click and how a calzone should look was just off scale…completely off scale. Amazing, how over years we tend to learn how to hone our techniques and methods. Admittedly, for this post I’ve not only changed the photo but altered the recipe as for sure this is much better than the old one. The recipe change is that I’ve used sourdough to make Sourdough Calzone.

If it were not for the group Foodies _ Redoing Old Posts, this post may never have got a breath of fresh air and new look. Its a bi monthly group, where members redo old posts and share on Facebook. That way we are able to get some bloggers’ love towards our forgotten posts. The idea of redoing old posts as a group was Renu’s idea. Renu blogs at Cook With Renu.

Memories

Aquadrome or Yuls as most people know it as, is my favorite Italian Restaurant in Mombasa. We dine at the restaurant at least once a month.  (Now with the Cover Pandemic, not able to visit it 🙁 ). While hubby could comfortably order a calzone, I can’t. The reason being is that they do not make a vegetarian one. Once, I requested for a veggie one and was told that is not possible to make. And I questioned why but no response. If you can make a vegetarian pizza then why not a vegetarian calzone. So that’s how the idea of baking my own materialized. My initial attempt was using a normal homemade pizza dough. Twice, I baked them and it lacked the classic puff look. I knew I was getting the dough wrong.Over time experimented as hubby loves calzone and got the puff using normal pizza dough but didn’t take any photos.

What is a Calzone?

Calzone is basically an Italian baked turnover made from a leavened dough. Its usually folded into half. Calzone size can vary from a big one that nearly a foot long to small ones. Generally a calzone is stuffed with salami, mozzarella with a bit of tomato sauce. These days, the filling varies from anchovies, minced meat to fish and aubergines. Calzone originated from the home of pizza, Naples. Started off as a way of enjoying a pizza as street food but folded so that the filling would not drop off. During my visit to Italy, I had the opportunity to enjoy a margharita calzone as street food. Hot, delicious calzone wrapped in a parchment paper. The ones available on the street are palm size while the ones available in the restaurants are bigger.

What do you fill the Calzone with? 

Whatever goes on a pizza goes in a calzone. Different types of cheese, vegetables, meat, tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Can you make Calzone using normal pizza dough? 

Yes you can. Follow my Homemade Pizza recipe. Then roll out the dough and add the filling on half side of the rolled dough and close it with the other half. Bake at 180°C.

Other Sourdough Recipes:

• Sourdough Grissini – a good way to use discarded sourdough starter. The discard is allowed to ferment overnight before adding to the dough.
• Using fed or active sourdough starter makes the Sourdough Pita not only taste wonderful but also soft.
• Try out Renu’s Spelt and Rye Breakfast Sourdough Bread
• This Homemade Sourdough Breadis my brother in law’s no fail recipe. I’ve baked it using only plain flour and a mixture of wheat and plain flour. Comes out perfect every time.
• Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread perfect as breakfast bread or to enjoy at tea time.
• Lahooh or Lahoh is a delicious, crispy, flatbread from the Somali Cuisine. I’ve serve it with egg and aubergines for breakfast/ brunch. Fed sourdough starter is added to the batter to give it a slightly tangy taste.

Ingredients required for Sourdough Calzone

SOURDOUGH CALZONE

A crusty and delicious Sourdough Calzone is an oven baked folded pizza with a stuffing of your choice. Enjoy it as a sandwich or as a main meal.

5 from 7 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 4 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Snack

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2 large

Ingredients

  

FOR THE SOURDOUGH CALZONE DOUGH:

• 1 cup unfed sourdough starter mixed
• ½ cup warm water
• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• ½ cup plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp instant dry active yeast
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• extra flour for dusting
• extra olive oil for brushing

FOR THE FILLING:

• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ½ cup sliced mushrooms
• ½ cup grated cheese (I used both cheddar and mozzarella)
• ¼ cup sweet corn
• ¼ cup sliced olives
• ½ cup pizza sauce check above for homemade pizza sauce link
• ¼ cup chopped sweet pepper
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Instructions

 

PREPARATION OF THE SOURDOUGH CALZONE DOUGH:

• Add unfed sourdough into a mixing bowl.
• Add salt and water. Mix well.
• Add oil, yeast and herbs. Mix well.
• Add the flours.
• Bring all the ingredients together into a dough.
• Dust the worktop with some flour.
• Knead the dough for 10-15 mins till its smooth and silky. The dough should not be too sticky.
• Shape the dough into a ball. Rub oil over it.
• Grease the bowl with some oil.
• Put the dough ball into the bowl.
• Cover with a damp cloth or lid and place the bowl in a warm place.
• The dough should rise and become double the size in 2-4 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
• Gently deflate the dough.
• Divide it into 2 parts for large calzone or 4 for small ones.
• Dust the worktop with some flour.
• Roll one part of the dough using a rolling pin into a circle of about 8-9 inches in diameter. For the small ones roll into 4-5 inches.
• Grease a baking tray with some oil.
• Place the rolled dough on the tray.
• Do the same for the remaining dough.

PREPARATION OF SOURDOUGH CALZONE:

• Spread the pizza sauce on just half part of the circle. Don't spread right to the edges.
• Add the filling.
• Gently bring the other part of the circle over the filling.
• Pinch the seams to seal. I like to fold the dough (crimp). You can also use a fork to press down the edges to seal.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• For a crusty calzone, brush the top with some water.
• Place the calzone in the oven to bake. Bake for the first 10 mins at 200°C. Then lower to 180°C and bake further for 15-20 minutes.
• When the top is golden brown, take the calzone out of the oven.
• You can brush olive oil on top and serve.

Notes

• Use a filling of your choice.
• If you don't want a crusty calzone then don't brush it with water. Brush some oil over it before baking.
• If you need the dough to ferment in lesser time then use 1 tsp of yeast.

Keyword bread, homemade calzone, sourdough discard calzone, Street Food, vegetarian, wholewheat flour, wholewheat flour calzone

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