Neapolitan Calzone

Neapolitan Calzone

(Italy)

serves 2 

                                                                              Prep time:  1 hour  5 minutes

                                                                Bake time:  8 minutes

                                                                              Total time:  1 hour 13 minutes

Ingredients 

Pizza Dough:

                    11 ounces (about 2 cups) bread flour, plus additional for work surface

                           .16 ounces active dry yeast (1 ¼ tsp)

                          .16 ounces Kosher or sea salt (1 tsp)

                          7 ounces warm (105 ° F) water

                          .2 ounces honey (2 tbsp)

                          1 ounces extra-virgin olive oil (2 tbsp)

note: to make more than one pizza the bakers ratio is: flour=100%, water=67%, honey=2%, yeast=1.5%, salt=1.5%, and olive oil= 5% or simply multiply the ingredients by the number of pizzas you want to make

Fillings:

  7 ounces Ricotta cheese

                                          5 2-inch x 1/2 inch thick slices fresh Mozzarella

                                      2 tablespoons shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

                         4 or 5 3 1/4-inch slices imported salami

                               4 or 5 3 1/4-inch slices imported pepperoni

           8 large basil leaves, divided use

           3  or 4 tablespoons tomato sauce

Preparation

Pizza Dough:

1.  In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the flour, yeast and salt and whisk these ingredients until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Combine the warm water, honey and oil in a measuring cup and turn on the mixer, fitted with dough hooks, to low and add the liquid. 

2.  As the dough begins coming together raise the speed to high and continue mixing (kneading) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and forms a rough ball around the mixing hook and there isn’t any dry flour visible (scrap the sides of the bowl to move flour into the path of the hooks as needed).  If the dough doesn’t come together, add additional water (if the dough appears too dry) or flour (if the dough appears too wet) 1 tablespoon at a time until it does.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured, flat work surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach the slightly tacky state) adding a little flour if it is too sticky, about 5 minutes.

4.  Lightly oil a large mixing bowl with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil the ball on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours* .

*note: if you are making multiple pizzas, after the dough has doubled in size divide the dough into equal sized portions for immediate use or place each portion in its own resealable bag for maturing. 

construction:

1.  Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the top shelf of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 550° F or as high as your oven will go, to attain the highest temperature allow the oven to preheat for at least 1 hour.

2.  Place the risen dough ball on a flat, lightly floured work surface and flatten it into a disk, then with your fingertips  and palms, press the disk into a thinner disk of dough approximately 10 to 14-inches round and 1/8-inch thick by stretching and rotating the disk [don’t worry if the pizza isn't perfectly round ].   

3.  Distribute some flour or corn meal over the surface of a pizza peel (this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough round to move easily over the surface of the peel).

4.  Spread the Ricotta in a strip about 14-inches long and about 3 1/2-inches wide below the center line of the disk, follow this by distributing the mozzarella slices across this strip, then distribute the Parmigiano on top of that followed by the salami slices and the pepperoni slices and finally evenly distribute 5 of the basil leaves.

5.  Fold the top half of the disk over the lower half and then with a pizza cutter or sharp knife trim the dough, leaving about a 1-inch border, so that the remaining dough forms a half moon shape.   Now fold the excess dough (the 1-inch border) over itself pressing it to seal.

6.  Carefully transport the half-moon shaped calzone to the corn meal covered peel (for ease of sliding the calzone onto the stone place it close to the far edge of the peel).  Spoon the tomato sauce onto the top of the calzone (take care not to get any of the sauce on the peel as this will cause the calzone to stick to the peel and make it difficult to slide it onto the stone).  Lastly,  pierce the top of the calzone 3 or 4 times and distribute the remaining basil leaves on top of the calzone.

7.  Slide the calzone off the peel onto the stone and bake for about 7 to 8 minutes until the dough is fully cooked and the crust  appears slightly chard.

service:

Slice the calzone in half and serve half to each dinner.