Kevin: Calzone

We had planned on a round up of pizza making hints today, but all three of us were side-tracked with other things that needed taking care of and, because we failed to decide on someone to blame if it didn't get done, it didn't get done. So I thought I'd post a brief note on a pizza alternative: calzone.

In this case I rolled out about a quarter of a dough recipe into a circle. Although I usually shape pizza by hand, I wanted a disk that was more uniformly thick than I can make by hand.

Then I sautéed some Italian sausage, red bell pepper, and onions. Note: I always precook Italian sausage because I'm concerned it won't cook all the way through during it's short stay in the oven. Also, this renders out most of the fat making a less greasy pizza (or calzone, in this case).

I mixed up my usual cheese mixture and then tossed all the ingredients together in a bowl.

I placed about 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) on the dough round, moistened the edges with water using a pastry brush, and then folded the dough over and sealed it by pinching the edges with my fingers. I also cut a couple of slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

As with pizza, it went on a hot stone (475F, 245C) until browned.

Technorati: Food | recipe | baking | bread | artisanal | artisan | bread baking | pizza | calzone

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