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.

Classic Stromboli

Classic Stromboli

makes 2 servings

(Italy)

Stromboli is basically the traditional (and more tasty) Italian version of the commercially produced “Hot Pocket”® sandwich.  This version contains the ingredients that we find most appealing and which are most traditional.  You may add almost any content which is to your taste it is recommended however, that whatever you stuff this sandwich with keep it kind of dry.  My wife likes it served with a spicy tomato sauce for dipping.

Ingredients

stromboli dough:

1 cup bread flour

1/2 cup lukewarm water (110° F)

1/2 package (1 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

stromboli filling:

½ pound hot Italian sausage, removed from casings and crumbled (optional)

1 cup sliced yellow onions

½  cup thinly sliced red bell peppers

½  cup thinly sliced green bell peppers

8 slices ham

8 slices (3 1/2-inch diameter) thinly sliced pepperoni

8 slices (3 1/2-inch diameter) salami

8 slices (3 1/2-inch diameter) provolone

8 slices (3 1/2-inch diameter) mozzarella

½  cup sliced Kalamata olives

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

stromboli dough:

1.  In a 1 cup measuring cup, combine the water and sugar stir to combine and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.  If the yeast doesn't "proof" (get "foamy") pour it out and start again it is important to have a live yeast mixture.

2.  Meanwhile place the 1 cup of flour and the salt into a sifter and sift it into the medium bowl  of a stand mixer.  Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the olive oil and the "proofed" yeast mixture.  Turn the mixer, fitted with dough hooks,  to high (labeled  knead on my mixer) and turn on.  Continue kneading (mixing) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball around the dough hooks (scrap the sides of the bowl to move flour into the path of the hooks as needed).

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach the slightly tacky state), 3 to 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 cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

stromboli construction and baking:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425° F. and lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside. 

2.  In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until browned and the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan. 

3.  Add the onions and cook over medium heat until onions begin to caramelize.  Add  the balsamic vinegar, bell peppers  and cook, stirring, until very soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste.   Remove from the heat and cool. 

4.  Meanwhile, remove the stromboli dough from its bowl and divide into 2 equally sized portions.  Form each portion into a ball.  Lightly flour your work  surface and, working with one ball  at a time, flatten the ball into a disk.  Using your hands and a rolling pin, work the disk into a thin (about 1/8" thick) larger disk about 10 to 11 inches in  diameter (as if you were  making a thin, round  pizza).  Using a 10" dinner plate as form, center the plate on the dough  disk and using a sharp knife trim and discard the excess dough, remove the plate.  You should now have a perfectly round 10" disk  to work with.

5.  Working with the 10" disk  in front of you, and using a pastry brush, brush olive oil over the  surface of the dough leaving a  1/2-inch margin uncoated on  the edge of the disk.  Overlapping the slices slightly, layer half of the ham, salami,  pepperoni, olives, provolone and mozzarella cheeses, and onions over the bottom half of the dough circle respecting the clean, 1/2-inch margin along the edge.  

6.  Spread  half of the cooled sausage mixture evenly over the cheese and sliced meats again respecting  the 1/2-inch clean margin.   Lightly brush  the 1/2-inch clean margin with some of the beaten  egg/water mixture and  fold the upper half of the disk over the lower half pressing  the edge together to seal (the tines of a fork can be used to a crimped edge for visual appeal).  

7.  Remove the newly formed stromboli to the lightly oiled baking sheet and repeat steps 4 thru 6 with the remaining dough ball.

8.  Lightly brush the tops of each of the stromboli with some of the beaten eggs being careful not to allow any of the egg to seep under the stromboli (this will tend to cause the stromboli to stick to the baking sheet as they cook and make  removal difficult).  You may cut 2 or 3 1-inch slits into the top of each stromboli to allow steam to escape if you think  it necessary.

9.  Place the baking sheet containing the stromboli in the center of the preheated oven  and bake until the stromboli are nicely, golden browned, 30 to 40 minutes.  Serve immediately if you're going  to eat the stromboli with a fork and knife or allow to cool slightly if you are going to eat them as sandwiches to avoid burning  your mouth.  The stromboli may be served accompanied by  a spicy marinara sauce for dipping.