Ricotta - Broccoli Calzones

I have a very strange story about how these calzones came into existence.


You see, I was reading Paul Johnson's A History of the American People and I came across a section immediately prior to his fascinating analysis of the civil war in which he talked about Senator John C. Calhoun from South Carolina.  I read his last name and immediately my mind (as it so often does these days) went to food - calzones, specifically. Calhoun, calzones.

From this we can deduce that I am both pregnant and nerdy. This combination has led to some fascinating quirks, but for now, let's just concentrate on the matter at hand: calzones.

For those of you unfamiliar with calzones, let me familiarize you. Calzones are essentially pizza pockets: a crisp, chewy crust encasing cheese, meat, or veggies. They're like pizza hand-pies. Cheesy. Chewy. Delicious. You need them in your life.

This particular recipe is the best I've ever had. Those people at Cook's Illustrated know what they're doing - this was seriously restaurant quality food! The calzone bread is delightful: light, but substantial enough to support the filling. My ricotta-broccoli filling was perfectly melted and had a nice balance of two cheeses. These are so, so worth the extra time it takes to make the dough!

Helpful Hints:
Variations: You can vary this recipe any way you like: add pepperoni, chopped ham, olives, tomatoes, mushrooms or well, really anything you'd regularly put on a pizza.

The dough is a cinch to put together if you have a mixer; just use the dough hook attachment.

The dough portion of the recipe requires a food thermometer to ensure the water is the right temperature. If you don't have one, my guess is that you can just do the old water on the wrist trick and be just fine. The point is to get the water warm enough to activate the yeast, but not so warm it kills it. Don't be a yeast-murderer! Put your wrist under some warm running water; when the water feels about the same temperature as your skin (lukewarm), quickly fill your measuring glass to the desired amount - in this case, a little over 1 1/2 cups of water. Easy as pie.

Confession: I didn't have any mozzarella. I had four other cheese in my fridge, but not mozzarella. So I didn't use any and slightly upped the amount of Parmesan. Guess what? It didn't matter. While I'm sure it'd be divine with mozzarella, you can skip it if you have to.

A word about cheese: buy the good stuff. Meaning, buy a block of aged Parmesan and whole-milk ricotta. You won't regret it. Promise.

Ever wished your dough would rise faster? It can! Heat your oven to 200 degrees, set a towel on the stove top and place your dough bowl on top. It'll double in size in about half the time! 

About the baking process: as you roll out your dough into nine inch rounds, place each round onto a square of parchment paper. Each round of dough can be filled and baked on the parchment paper. The parchment paper makes it easy to fill the calzone, seal it, then move it to the baking sheet.

 Ricotta Calzones 
Tweaked from The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook 
Serves 6 or more, depending on how hungry they are.

Dough
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon of water, heated to 105 degrees. 

Filling
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
16 ounces whole-milk ricotta (2 cups)
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
1 1/2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup)
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

Mix flour, yeast, and salt in mixer fitted with dough hook. On low speed, add the oil in a trickle, then the water. Slightly increase the speed, mix until the dough forms a ball and is smooth and warm, about ten minutes. Put dough in Pam-ed bowl and set somewhere warm until doubled in size; about 2 hours.

In a small skillet over medium heat, warm olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes until garlic begins to sizzle. Pour mixture into a bowl and let cool, stirring every now and again.

Stir together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg yolk, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic oil in another bowl, cover, and refrigerate.

Spread some parchment paper on a baking sheet, then spray with Pam. Dump the risen dough on a clean counter, divide in half, then divide each half into thirds so that you have six even proportions. Roll the pieces into a ball, put on baking sheet, then cover with Pam-ed plastic wrap and let rest for about 20 minutes.

Cut seven 9"x9" squares of parchment paper. Roll out one ball of dough into a nine inch round and place on top of a small sheet of parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough, placing parchment sheets between the pieces of dough. (Use this method so that your dough doesn't stick together and to easily transfer the calzones to the baking sheet in the next step.)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Take the ricotta filling mixture from the fridge. Place the top piece of flattened dough on counter or work space and fill one half of the round with scant half cup of filling, leaving a one inch border around the edge. Fold dough in half, and pinch edges together. Brush top with olive oil, and sprinkle on some Kosher salt.  Then put parchment paper square on the baking sheet. Do likewise for the remaining calzones.

Bake until golden brown, about 11 minutes. Let cool then consume joyfully.