Friday, January 7, 2011

Jersey Shore Calzones

In honor of our favorite guidos and guidettes, we made calzones for dinner last night before the season premier of Jersey Shore. Chris' brother, Brian, bought him a calzone mold for Christmas, so we were excited to try it out. We've made calzones and strombolis many time, just folding the dough on our own, but the mold was nice because it makes it perfectly shaped and crimps the edges. It's made my Williams Sonoma, very easy to use and clean- available online and in the stores for $12.

Ingredients for Dough (we made our own, but you can soooo skip this step and use dough from the pizza parlor or supermarket)
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbs olive oil

Ingredients for Filling
1 15 oz container of ricotta (part-skim works great!)
1 cup of mozzerella
1 egg
parsely, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil- whatever floats your boat!

*We kept it basic this time...you can add ANYTHING- pepperoni, cooked chicken, sausage, veggies*

Mix yeast, sugar and water together in a bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.

In a food processor, mix the yeast mixture with flour and salt. Pour 1 Tbs of olive oil into processor. Process for about 3 minutes unti the dough becomes a ball and is moist but not too sticky. WARNING: We have a large Cuisnart food processor that is pretty hardy, but after a minute or so, I could smell burning...I think the motor was getting overheated. I stopped it after about 2 minutes, so beware!

Put the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl (I rubbed the sides of the bowl with a little olive oil) and cover it with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour. While dough is rising, mix all of the filling ingredients together in a small bowl. Chill until you're ready to use.

ONE HOUR LATER: Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Punch down the center of the ball of dough (should've risen to about 2 times its size). Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces with a knife or pizza cutter. **I divided it into 4 pieces to make slightly larger calzones.

Roll a ball of dough out into an 8 inch round. Place in the calzone mold, or just lay flat on counter. Place about 1/3 cup of filling on one half of the dough, and fold the dough in half or close the mold. Make sure the edges are sealed.

Repeat for remaining balls of dough. Place finished calzones on hot pizza stone or on cookie sheet. Brush each one with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesean cheese.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and hot! Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. EAT!