A Non-Traditional Calzone

Tonight for dinner my fiance and I had calzones. The reasoning behind the title is that I put marinara sauce inside of my calzones. In essence the calzones turned it into more of a stromboli-calzone hybrid. As per tradition, we filled them with all kinds of roasted veggies, zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, and cherry tomatoes, also some sauteed garlic.

For the most part I try to be healthy, but when it comes to pizza I tend to put a lot of cheese on or in them. Tonight we used mozzarella, feta, parmesan, and romano cheese. I like to layer the different types of cheese between the vegetables so that they all mix together but retain their unique flavors.

More importantly than the cheese is the crust, I use a modified version of Alton Brown's pizza crust recipe. In a future blog I may release my particular recipe but I am hesitant to share bread recipes. With bread there are so many factors involved with making a good bread dough from what brand of flour you use, to the humidity in your house. I spend a lot of time making sure my crust is just perfect.

My first time ever having calzones was at a local pizzeria. This pizzeria prides itself in making authentic New York style pizza. I had always enjoyed their pizzas, the cheese one especially. The defining feature of their cheese pizza was the heaping piles of ricotta cheese. One trip there I noticed on the menu this thing called a calzone. I was about 16, at the time, and I had never even heard of the concept. Theirs was a perfect mix of pizza ingredients, with a salty and well seasoned exterior.

With calzones, like pizza, there is no perfect way to do it. Everyone has there own preference and I always encourage customizing my recipes. I do have a couple of suggestions though. Plan ahead, slow rise pizza doughs are always best. If you rise the pizza dough in the fridge for 24 hours it will have a more classic pizza crust texture. Second, bake the pizza at 500 degrees, and as close to the bottom as you can get. You want it to cook fast, that is why I suggest precooking the vegetables. When the calzones are half baked I lightly spread olive oil on top so the surface gets a nice golden brown with the crispy edges. Finally, try and use a baking stone. Without a baking stone I find that the bottoms get soggy and leak everywhere.

Calzones

    2 Pizza Doughs
    2 tablespoons Olive Oil
    1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
    1 Green Pepper
    1 Zucchini
    2 tablespoons Garlic
    1/2 cup Pizza Sauce
    1 cup Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
    1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees with baking stone on bottom rack.

2. Fill half the pizza dough with the desired ingredients.

3. Fold pizza dough in half and seal the dough using a bit of water around the edge and using a fork to seal the edges.

4. Bake for 3 minutes.

5. Brush top with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. The reason for the sea salt versus normal salt is that I like sea salt better here.

6. Bake for another 4-7 minutes or until top is golden brown.