| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 1 calzone |
Ingredients
- Flour, for rolling dough
- 1/2 recipe Basic Pizza Dough, recipe follows
- 5 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 small ball fresh mozzarella, grated
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 5 grinds black pepper
- Coarse cornmeal, for dusting baking sheet
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Lightly dust the work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough out into an 8 by 11-inch oval.
- In a medium bowl, mix the spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place all the filling on 1 half of the dough leaving a 3/4-inch border along the edge.
- Fold the remaining dough over the filling until the edges line up and pinch the edges together to seal. Gently roll the pinched edges under to form a decorative rim.
- Place the calzone on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal and brush the top with olive oil.
- Bake until golden brown and the center is hot and melted, 25 minutes, rotating midway through cooking.
- Basic Pizza Dough:
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
- 1 teaspoon salt
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together yeast, warm water, sugar and olive oil. Let sit for about 3 minutes to fully dissolve and activate the yeast.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour and salt.
- With a rubber spatula, gradually mix the yeast mixture into the flour until just combined and dough barely holds together. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter surface dusted with flour.
- Knead the dough with flour-dusted hands until the dough has become smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. The surface should be tight and silky and bounce back slightly when pressed. Lightly grease a large mixing bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it.
- Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
- Once doubled, punch the dough down and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Knead each 1 slightly to form a uniform ball. Set aside and cover them with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap to rest for 30 minutes.
- Cook’s Note: Dough can be made the day before and refrigerated overnight once it is divided. Keep covered tightly in plastic wrap or in a sealed food storage bag.
- Yield: 2 dough balls
Reviews
Great dough for the crust and it only took an extra hour and a half to be ready to bake. I used fresh spinach so I cooked it with onion and garlic before adding to the calzone. Also added garlic and chive flavored goat cheese to give more flavor.
This is a great recipe! For the crust I got Martha White pizza dough mix instead of making it from sctrach and that worked out great. To make the inside not bland, try adding something you like, like some spice or onions, paprika, just something like that. I added olives.
I think oregano would have helped, but next time, I’m going to include green onions or shallots to give it some punch.
I tried making a pizza a long time ago and I thought it was really complicated and didn’t turn out well. The dough for this recipe is really easy to make, and everyone that tried the calzone liked it. I served it w/the tomato sauce from this episode since other reviewers said the calzone was bland.
I’m definitely going to be using this recipe again.
I’m definitely going to be using this recipe again.
Easy to make. Try it with whole wheat, which I did. The recipe did NOT have the oregeno listed, though he used it on the show. Made a VERY bland mixture. I added garlic and oregeno the second time and it was fantastic. Remember, if you do use the whole wheat to use extra yeast. I suggest the Hogstone Mills if you can find it.
It was great, this is the best recipe I’ve found that could potentially have hundreds of uses… In future, I am going to change up the ricotta for feta.
I would not recommend this recipe (although I have enjoyed many of Dave Lieberman’s other recipes). This is entirely flavorless. Too much moisture and no favor.
The pizza dough with these is great, very easy to work with. I will use it again and again. Although the filling was not very zippy, the calzone worked great with a spicy tomato dip. Best of all my husband and teen-ager both said “thank you” for making this, they hardly ever comment on my meals. So, Thanks to you Dave L!
My husband and I love calzones, and found this dough recipe very easy to follow with very tasty results! We added some tomato sauce with our spinach & ricotta mixture to add some extra flavor and it turned out great. We look forward to enjoying it many more times in our kitchen!