Calzone made-easy !

After a week of baking and decorating , wanted to make some thing new ;yet easy to make .. thought a lot .. and then said to myself if you are in Italy do like Italians do ...CALZONE !
Calzone is a folded Italian pizza which, by the sheer nature of its shape, is far more portable than a normal pizza and looks a bit like a Cornish pasty. Although the flavorings can be the same as for pizza, Italians often fill their calzone with leftover veg from the night before, or with various things that need using up.


What you will make ahead :
First , make your Pizza Dough 
Second , make your Pizza sauce
Then ladies and gentlemen prepare your filling ... you can put in WHATEVER you want !
in my case I put :

•  RICOTTA CHEESE! Use one and one half cups of ricotta mixed with dash of pepper, salt and some grated Parmesan cheese . 
• 1 cup of  shredded mozzarella .

• some olives .

 How-to :

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. When dough is ready, punch it down and separate it into 2 equal parts. Roll parts out into thin circles on a lightly floured surface. Fill each circle with 1/2 of the  filling and fold over, securing edges by folding in and pressing with a fork. Brush the top of each calzone with egg , olive oil or even some garlic butter !!   and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Serve hot. 

 

How to make Pizza like an Italian

      La Pizza , or as they pronounce it in Italy ( Pi-tssa)... It took me about a year and a half to master this recipe .  they bake it here in (forno a legno) or a wood-fired oven also known as wood ovens  , and they are  the BEST !
well, since I don't have this oven , don't have a pizza stone either .. it took me months to figure out what can I do to make this wonderful pizza in a no muss no fuss way . IN ONLY 2 HOURS.

Pizza rules :
1- Use bread flour , All -purpose won't work .
2- Add salt in the end , just before transferring  the dough to your work surface . salt is yeast 1st enemy.
3- Let it rise in a humid place.
4- Do not use a rolling pin to roll it , put a ball in your baking pan and roll it by hand.
5-Your oven must be really hot before baking.
5- Sprinkle some olive oil and semolina  flour under your pizza crust , it makes a great textured one.

For my No-fail Pizza  crust recipe click here .

Those are the things you will need after your dough rises :

-Pizza sauce.
-Mozzarella.
-Some olive oil and semolina for your pan .
-I topped mine with arugula after baking . And the rosemary in the first photo was only for shooting :)

                                                                Who Likes it HOT ?!

                                 and I had some left over dough so I made some mini Pizzas

  

For my No-fail Pizza  crust recipe click here .
Enjoy !

 Ah , by the way , my Facebook comments have gone crazy , so if you would like to leave me a comment you can use the normal blogger comment system below this"broken" Facebook box. !

Incredibly easy Pizza Bites

     Have you ever thought of indulging yourself ?? I guarantee you that THIS RECIPE , will  give you self satisfaction and confidence as a baker for your life time. so let's see what we can do !!

My No-fail  Pizza dough

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp honey or golden syrup. <--------- and this is the secret. :)
• 1 packet yeast
• 2 1/2 cup bread flour plus some more for your work surface.
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Silky dough  after kneading

After about 1.5 hours

 

1. Combine honey and warm water in a bowl.  Sprinkle with yeast and allow to foam.
2. Put your  flour in a separate bowl.
3. Add flour to yeast mixture and stir to combine.  Add oil and salt IN THE END  and that is another hint ...never add salt directly to your yeast.
4. Stir if possible, then turn mixture out on to a floured surface and knead for several minutes until smooth about 10 minutes.
5. Oil dough ball and set aside.  Allow to rise until doubled or so, approximately 2 hours.
6. Once ready to cook, preheat oven to 500°F.  Divide dough into12 equal balls.
7. fill each ball with a cube of mozzarella cheese .
8. Seal dough around the cheese and place seam side down in pie pan.
9. Repeat, placing approximately 12 dough balls in your  pie plate.
10. Once assembled, combine oil and spices and brush over the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.I left mine to rise again for 30 minutes.When ready to bake: bake at 400°F 200 c for 16-20 min. Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce.

Enjoy !!

La versione Italiana

Ingredienti:

1 tazza di acqua calda ( non troppo)
1 cucchiaio di miele o zucchero--------- e questo è il segreto. :)
1 bustina di lievito ,o  mezzo cubetto di lievito di birra
2 1/2 tazza di farina tipo 0, più ancora un po 'per il vostro piano di lavoro.
1/4 cucchiaino di sale
1 cucchiaio di olio d'oliva .

Procedura:

• Unire il miele e acqua calda in una ciotola. Cospargere con il lievito .
• Mettete la farina in una ciotola a parte.
• Aggiungere la farina al composto di lievito e mescolare per combinare. Aggiungere l'olio e il sale alla fine e questo è un altro suggerimento ... non aggiungere il sale direttamente al lievito.
• Mescolare , poi mettere il composto su una superficie infarinata e impastare per alcuni minuti fino a che liscio circa 10 minuti.
• formare delle palline (quasi 7). Lasciare lievitare fino al raddoppio, di circa 2 ore.
• Una volta pronte a cuocere, preriscaldare il forno a 500 ° F,200 c. Dividere la pasta into7 palline uguali.
• riempire ogni pallina con un cubetto di mozzarella.
• Sigillare la pasta intorno al formaggio .
• Ripetere, mettendo circa 7 palline di pasta nella tua teglia.
•  unire l'olio e spezie e pennello sopra le palline. Cospargere di parmigiano  .Io  lasciato la mia a lievitare per 30 minuti. cuocere in forno a 400 ° F 200 C per 16-20 min. Servire  calda con la salsa alla marinara.

Happy baking everyone
Ciao!