Puntenesca Calzone

A photo posted by Höķm Guerrerø (@revmcnasty) on Jun 2, 2016 at 5:10pm PDT

I made up the dough recipe for this one.  I was running low on all my flours and couldn't pick "just one".  It came out a nice mix of white and wheat.  A little crispy (bread flour) and a little chewy (all-purpose flour) with a smacking of whole wheat flavor.  I will probably keep these rations for future calzones, but for pizza I still prefer the "beer pizza dough" recipe I have, but I didn't have beer or enough flour to use it today. 

makes 4 calzones

for the dough

1 and 1/4 cups water

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dries basil
1/2 teaspoon diced italian parsley
1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast

for the tomatoes
1.5 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, washed
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

for the filling
1/4 large yellow onion, diced
1 pint of shiitakes, chopped
8 oz pack of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
7-8 garlic stuffed green olives, sliced
2 or 3 teaspoons of lemon juice
2 cups grated smoked provolone (or smoked mozzarella)

1. Make dough with the dough ingredients.  I use the dough setting on my bread machine so I dont have to kneed/let rise. I am pretty sure it rises twice.
2. Preheat the broiler with the top rack about 6-8 inches from heat source.  Wisk together everything for the tomatoes except the tomatoes until its a thick dark red mess. Fold in the whole tomatoes being careful not to puncture any. Place them all on small roasting tray and place under broiler. Cook until there is a noticeable black char on more than half the tomatoes - about 8-10 minutes. Don't be afraid to over cook.  Place roasted tomatoes (and all the juices) in large mixing bowl.
3. Sauté the onions in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat for 6 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and two pinches of salt. Cook until most of the moisture from the shrooms has cooked away.  Add to the large mixing bowl.
4. Squeeze all the water out of the thawed chopped spinach and add to the large mixing bowl, pulling into small pieces as you do so.  Add the lemon juice.
5. Everything except for the dough and the cheese should be in the mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula fold all the contents together.
6. Add the sliced olives to the large mixing bowl.
7. Preheat the over to 375 and place the rack in the middle of the oven.  Quarter the dough and make four 10-inch rounds.  Let the rounds sit for about 10 minutes, the dough will shrink.  Rework the dough to reform the 10-inch rounds.
8. Place one quarter of the filling off to one side of the rounds, leaving a border.  Top with the cheese.  Fold the other side of the dough over and roll the to separate edges together to seal in the goodness.
9. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden.

I wasn't sure if I should cut vents in the top to let the steam out, so I experimented by putting two small incision on two of the four on my first attempt.  My conclusion: the vents are not necessary for this recipe.  Maybe because there was less steam because most of the water had already been cooked out of the mushrooms?  Or maybe because I the thawed spinach was squeezed dry?  Who knows, but you do not have to vent the calzones.