Veggie Calzone

We have started loving Italian and other Continental dishes for dinner. Mostly baked ones, they take time only for the preparation but the cooking does not ones active time as the oven takes care of it! You'll see a few dishes coming up on those lines. 

A calzone, meaning  "stocking" or "trouser" in Italian, is a turnover or folded pizza. It is shaped like a half-moon and made of bread dough. The calzone is folded over and filled with ingredients common to pizza. The typical calzone is stuffed with tomato and mozzarella, and may include other ingredients that are normally associated with pizza toppings. [Wikipedia]

We had had Calzone in Dominos in Bangalore and had liked it. The recipe being very flexible, one can come up with numerous varieties, based on likings of ingredients, spices/herbs, cheese, etc. I used a recipe with Whole wheat flour for the dough and the filling was my my choice of veggies – moslty what I had on hand; so was the cheese. When preparing for it, I felt it was almost like making chapathi + a subzi! The only difference is I had to roll out less than half of them, and instead of cooking them on tava, one by one and then serving hot, alongside the subzi, it was like stuffing the rolled dough and baking them all at once, so that we both could sit down and eat together, when they were still piping hot! Taste wise – well, there is no comparison! They tasted heavenly.

So do try out these to have variety in your dinner menu. All it takes is an hour or so of resting time, as compared to your chapathi-subzi dinner, that's it! And did I tell you they tasted very nice the next day as well – I just had to heat it in the microwave a few seconds to have piping hot, almost fresh Calzone!

Here's I made them...

Veggie Calzone

Preparation time: ~20 min + ~10 min + resting time

Baking Time: ~25 min

Source: Dough from US Masala

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour – 1 ½ Cups

All Purpose Flour – ½ Cup

Lukewarm Milk – ¾ Cup 

Instant yeast - 1 1/4 tsp  

Olive oil – 1 Tbsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

For the filling: 

Chopped Bellpeppers/Capsicums – 2 cups (I used 3 colored, 1 medium each)

Onion – 1, sliced

Garlic – 2-3 pods, minced

Sweet corn kernels – ½ cup

Tomato – 1 small, ripe but firm

Olive oil – 2 Tbsp

Feta cheese – 3 Tbsp, crumbled (Optional – I used it as I had to finish off some) You may use paneer also

Green chilies – 1-2 chopped fine (Only if you want it spicy)

Pepper powder / Red chili powder – ½ tsp

Tomato ketchup / Marinara sauce – 1 Tbsp

Dried Italian herbs – Oregano/Thyme – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Mozzarella cheese – ¼ cup, grated

Method:

• Dissolve salt, sugar and yeast in milk.
• Add oil and the flours and mix well
• Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes till soft and elastic
• Smear the dough with some oil, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise till double – for an hr to hr and a half

Filling:

• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, add garlic, chilies and onions and saute
• Mix in the other veggies and saute till almost cooked – don't overcook as they will get baked again
• Add salt, sauce and sprinkle with pepper /chili powder, herbs and mix well
• Keep aside to cool slightly.

To make the calzone:

• Divide the doubled dough into 4 portions
• One by one, roll each part into a big circle – bigger and thicker than chapathi
• Spread the filling mixture on one half of the circles, leaving a gap of about an inch on the circumference
• Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the filling
• Fold the empty part over the filling, to form a semi circle and press the edges
• To make sure they are sealed well, using a fork, press all over the circumference of the semi circle
• Transfer them carefully to a large baking tray
• Brush the top with a little milk, if you want a good color
• Make a couple of slits on each of them to allow the steam to escape while baking
• Let them rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven at 200 deg C
• Once preheated, bake the prepared calzone for 12-14 minutes, till the top starts slightly browning
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes, as they will be really hot!
• Cut into half and serve with marinara sauce

Notes:

• Experiment with your favourite veggies and cheese combinations. 

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar, Preeti Deo and Jayasri.