Calzones with Zucchini, Onions and Mushrooms, and Beer?
One of our favorite Wicked Good dinners, a close second to pizza, is the calzone. Calzones deliver more of a good thing, containing all of the components of pizza, but with the parts in different places. Picture a giant slice of white pizza, rolled up and baked, then slathered with a thick tomato sauce; that’s a calzone. (Um, I think you’re drooling.)
Being the impatient baker that I am, it’s rare that my dough is allowed enough time to ferment and develop any depth of flavor. I tried adding more salt to the dough, which helped a little bit, but it still had undertones of plain flour. I tried adding more olive oil, but it started to change the texture of my chewy dough to a bad version of a short crust. I tried adding herbs, spices, but still had that pesky boring flour flavor lingering in the background.
I needed something yeasty; it was the yeasty part of the bread flavor that was missing. Malted barley crossed my mind, but it was too bitter and dark, like a dark beer. Then the oven-lightbulb moment came. Beer. But not a dark beer, a light beer; a Boston Lager. By replacing the water in my regular dough recipe with lager, I was able to get that complex fermentated flavor into my pizza dough in a matter of hours instead of days.
I was reminded of my self-imposed “water rule”: plain water has no flavor; use an appropriately flavored liquid whenever possible, instead of water.
To further explain, when I’m cooking rice, I use stock instead of water. When I’m cooking pasta, I season the water with enough salt to make the water taste like sea water. When I’m steaming or simmering vegetables, I cook them in a court bouillon (water, salt, wine and aromatics) instead of plain water. When I’m making pie dough, I infuse the ice water with vanilla or lemon. The same principle works with bread dough. Plain water in your bread dough, without proper fermentation, leaves you with the flavor of plain water in your bread dough.
For this particular recipe, you’ll need four important components for maximum flavor: beer-enriched dough, fillings, sauce and garlic-infused olive oil.
Calzones with Zucchini, Onions and Mushrooms
Servings: makes 4 individual calzones
Prep time: 3-4 hours
Cook time: 14 minutes
Allergy info: soy-free; contains wheat, gluten, dairy
For the dough:
1 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
1/4 cup warm water (no more than 110 degrees)
1 cup warm beer
3 2/3 cup all purpose flour, plus more for rolling/dusting
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
For the infused olive oil:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped – leave in big chunks
For the sauce:
28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
5 fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into thin strips (chiffonade)
salt and pepper to taste
For the filling (each should be divided into 4 portions):
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
5 crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded provolone cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
salt and pepper to taste
Make the dough:
Dissolve the yeast in warm water, according to the package directions. Add 3/4 of the flour into a large bowl and hollow out a well in the middle. Add the salt, sugar, olive oil. Add the yeast mixture after it blooms (package directions). Using your fingers, mix the ingredients in the middle, pulling in a little bit of flour from the sides. Add the beer. Continue to pull in the flour until all of the ingredients are mixed and form a sticky ball of dough. Generously flour your work surface and pour the dough onto the surface. Knead the dough, adding flour as needed, for about 20 minutes to activate the yeast and gluten in the flour. When the kneading is finished, fold the edges under to make a smooth mound. Rub a little flour around the ball and place the dough into a bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours. The dough should double in size. When the dough is ready, divide into 4 equal pieces, place on a baking sheet and allow to rise, covered with a damp cloth for another hour.
Make the infused oil:
While the dough is rising, make the infused olive oil. Place the olive oil, pepper, salt and garlic in a medium bowl and set aside.
Make the sauce:
Add olive oil to a medium sauce pan and heat on low. Add the garlic and allow to steep in the warm oil for one minute. Increase the heat to medium and add the tomatoes, stir to incorporate with the garlic. Allow to simmer on medium-low for one hour. The sauce will begin to reduce. When it has reduced by half, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Make the calzones:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Flour a work surface and roll out each piece of dough to a 10″ oval or rectangle. Keeping a 1″ edge of the dough clean, all the way around, add the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper on one half of the dough. Place the vegetables on top of the ricotta, then top with the provolone, mozzarella and parmigiano.
Fold the other half of the dough over the filling, making a dome, and crimp the edges to seal the bread dome closed.
Repeat with each piece of dough then transfer all to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush the garlic-infused olive oil over the top of each calzone and bake for 12 – 14 minutes or until the bread is just turning brown and cooked through but still soft.
Remove from the oven and brush the tops with the infused oil, sprinkle calzones with salt, pepper, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh basil. Serve with the tomato sauce on the side.
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>It is so hard to find good pizza and calzones in Central FL…I have a few favorites for pizza, but calzones, none. These look great!
>by the way…found you at FL Foodies blog…great looking pumpkin corn muffins!
>Ah calzones! I too live in an Italian food deprived area (Charleston, SC). Your photo is wonderful!
>Oooh beer in a calzone/pizza dough?….how come I never thought of that!!
Thanks for the idea! I found your blog whilst browsing through the links on cookiemadness.net and I'm glad I did =)
>Nice tip re: the self-imposed water rule, I'll have to keep that one in mind. When making a risotto I tend to use a couple of glasses of white wine or martini early in the cooking process before adding hot chicken stock (a ladle-full at a time), but I've never thought of using beer as a subsitute for water in bread dough!