What Is a Calzone?

A calzone is a folded pizza that originated in Naples, Italy, during the 18th century. The word “calzone” comes from the Italian word for “trouser” or “stocking,” likely referring to its folded shape. Think of it as a sealed, half-moon-shaped pocket of pizza dough filled with traditional Italian ingredients.

This recipe takes a slightly less traditional route as we stuffing the calzone with creamy ricotta, spinach and marinara. This classic flavour combination is a crowd-favourite, an ideal food item that is sure to impress for dinner parties or dinner date night in.

Understanding Your Components

1. The Dough
   • You could either make the dough yourself or buy pre-made ones from the grocery stores for convenience. I used pre-made dough but if you would like to make it from scratch, check out the recipe below.
   • You need 00 flour or bread flour for proper structure
   • Must be elastic enough to stretch without tearing. Highly recommend you use an electric mixer for this step
   • Requires proper gluten development for foldability
   • Allow dough to properly ferment before using – patience is key!
   • Key Tips:
     • Rest dough 1-2 hours before shaping
     • Overnight proofing: leave dough covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Pull dough out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 2 hours before using.
     • Use a lot of flour when shaping and rolling to prevent sticking
2. The Cheese Base
   • Ricotta:
     • Whole milk ricotta preferred for richness
     • Must be well-drained to prevent soggy base. If your ricotta is on the wetter side, pour the ricotta into a cheeze cloth and let it sit in a sieve over a bowl. Place some weights (e.g. canned beans) on top to force the water to come out. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
     • Acts as the creamy binding agent
   • Spinach:
     • Fresh is preferred but if you cannot get your hands on fresh spinach, frozen ones are okay
     • You could either blanch or stir fry the spinach in a bit of oil.
     • Make sure to properly ring out the spinach of any moisture or it will make the dough soggy.
3. Garlic butter:
   • Butter, garlic and parsley
   • helps to add a nice shine to the calzone and extra flavour
4. Cooking the calzone:
   • If you have a pizza oven then this is perfect! Please use the pizza oven
   • If you don’t have a pizza oven, your conventional oven is also fine but you will need to do some things differently!
     • If you have a pizza stone then place it inside your oven and allow it to preheat with your oven. We want the stone extremely hot to cook the base of the calzone, preventing it from being soggy.
     • If you don’t preheat your stone, the base will not have enough time to cook before the top gets burnt! You will most likely end up with a soggy and uncooked base
     • If you don’t have a pizza stone, then a normal baking tray is fine too.

Tips!

Storage and Reheating Guide

Storage: (baked calzone)

• Room temperature: 2 hours maximum
• Refrigerator: Up to 3 days

Rehating:

• Oven: 350°F for 10-15 minutes or until crispy
• Avoid microwave (makes crust soggy)
• Brush with olive oil before reheating

Make-in-advance guide:

• Dough can be made in advanced and leave in the fridge for up to 2 days for the overnight proofing method. Take the dough and leave at room temperature for 2 hours before using
• The ricotta and spinach filling can be made in advanced and leave in the fridge for up to 1 day.
• Bake fresh before serving.

Ingredients

(makes 2 calzones)

Pizza Dough:
2 pre-made pizza dough OR

400g bread flour
4g instant active yeast
15g sugar
10g salt
3 tnsp olive oil
220ml warm water

Filling:
150g spinach, blanched
250g ricotta cheese
Marinara sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Garlic butter:
30g butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
parsley

Method

1. Pizza Dough: In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, add in your flour, yeast, salt, sugar and warm water. Let the stand mixer run on low-medium speed for around 10 minutes, until the dough starts to pull from the sides of the bowl.
2. Give the dough a quick knead on the bench with your hands and then transfer into a lightly oiled bowl, covered and leave to proof at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. If you would like to do the overnight proofing method then place the dough covered in the fridge overnight, the next morning take it out at room temperature for 2 hours before use.
3. Filling: If your ricotta is on the liquidy side, place the ricotta into a cheese cloth and let it sit in a sieve over a bowl. Add some weight on top and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours to extract any excess liquid. In a bowl, add in your ricotta, cooked spinach, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
4. Garlic butter: in a bowl, combine the melted butter, garlic and parsley. Set aside
5. Place a pizza stone or a baking tray inside your oven and turn your oven on to 250C/480F.
6. Assemble: Transfer your proofed pizza dough onto a well floured benchtop and roll and shape out your dough into a big circle. Place some marinara, filling and mozzarella cheese on 1 half of the circle, be careful not to overfill. Fold the circle in half and pinch to seal shut.
7. Transfer the calzone onto your floured pizza stick and carefully transfer it onto your preheated stone/tray. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the top looks golden. Brush the top with your garlic butter.