Vegetarian Wholewheat Calzones

Today we begin the 2nd week of Blogging Marathon, my theme for this week is "Stuffed Breads". To make the theme challenging Valli wants us to make very specific stuffed breads: Stuffed Yeast bread, Stuffed Roti/ Paratha & Stuffed Naan/ Kulcha. 

So for the "Stuffed Yeast Bread", I made a "Calzone". Calzone is nothing but a folded pizza, all the gooey and yummy goodness of pizza in a portable turnover form. After tasting her first calzone ever, my mom commented that this is better than pizza because your fingers are clean when eating and there are less chances of toppings falling off. I have to agree with that. Calzones are easier to carry and cleaner to eat.

I used a wholewheat pizza dough for the covering. For the fillings, I used the leftover roasted veggies from here, thawed frozen spinach and grated cheese. Calzones are very easy to make and they are very versatile. Find your favorite pizza dough recipe and fill them with your favorite pizza toppings and you are in for a filling and delicious meal.

I had a little helper in the kitchen to make calzones. My 5 year old wanted to roll the dough and fill the calzones with cheese. He also filled his tummy with a little cheese in the process.

Recipe adapted from here:

Ingredients:

Pizza/ Calzone Dough:

Wholewheat flour - 1¼cups

All purpose flour - 1½ cups

Salt - 1¼ tsp

Yeast - 2tsp

Sugar - 1tsp

Warm water - 1cup

Extra virgin olive oil - 1tbsp

Fillings:

Roasted Veggies - 2 cups

Spinach - 1cup, thawed if frozen, lightly cooked if using fresh

Cheese - 2cups (Mozzarella, parmesan, gruyere, cheddar, any good melting cheese should work here)

Ricotta - Pesto spread - Mix ½ cup ricotta cheese with 2tbsp pesto and season with salt and pepper

Method:

• Combine water, yeast and sugar in a measuring cup and set aside for 5 minutes or until the mixture looks frothy. Whisk in olive oil and set aside.
• In the meantime, combine the flours and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook or a food processor. Process until the flours are well combined.
• Add the yeast mixture and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides. Add water 1tbsp at a time if the mixture looks too crumbly. Add more flour if the mixture is too wet. Dough should be smooth and pliable. If using the stand mixer, knead in the machine for 2 minutes. If using a food processor, remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 3-5 minutes.
• Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise for 60-90 minutes in a warm place. I put a kitchen towel on the bowl and put it in the oven. After the rising time, dough should stretch when pulled.
• Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and put them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover them with lightly greased plastic wrap and set them aside for 15-20 minutes.
• In the meantime prepare your fillings. I used Roasted Veggies, thawed frozen spinach, creamy ricotta and pesto spread and cheese.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
• Roll each of the ball into a 6"-8" circle. Add your fillings on one half of the circle, moisten the edges with water and fold the dough over. Pinch the edges well. Cut 2 slits on top of the calzone for the steam to escape and brush lightly with olive oil. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until calzones are golden brown.

Serve calzones hot with a simple side salad for a delicious meal.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 24.