Recipes -Whole Wheat Pizza Dough & Irresistible Mini Calzones from Earthbound Cook by Myra Goodman

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These recipes come from the Earthbound Cook cookbook I had written a review about just a few days ago! This has been one of my families most favorite recipes and I actually have extra dough and sauce in the fridge just in case anyone wants to make one really fast. They’re very easy and quick to make so my teenager is able to pop one in the oven if I’m running a little late on dinner. Both of my sons are on different schedules with meals so it gets complicated, but no kid can resist a Mini Calzone! Especially these… they are as they state, irresistible. This is actually two recipes, one for the pizza dough and one for the calzones. Enjoy!

A calzone is sort of a pizza turnover, an idea that originated in Naples, Italy. A regular calzone is often a full-size pizza folded in half, but because ours are made from 8-inch rounds of dough, the finished size is much more manageable. Bubbling with cheese and sauce, these mini calzones make a perfect one-person serving. I fill them with prosciutto, Kalamata olives, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and tomato sauce for lots of great flavor. They’re baked until they’re puffed and golden, and served with extra tomato sauce for dipping. delicious and irresistible. ~ Makes 4

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

2 packets active dry yeast

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 3/4 cups warm water (105′ to 115’F)

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for the bowl

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups unbleached all–purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tablespoon salt

1) Place the yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Add the warm water and whisk to blend. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the mixture sit until it is foamy, about 5 minutes. Then add the 3 tablespoons olive oil and stir to combine.

2) Stir in the whole wheat and white flours in several increments — 1 cup of whole wheat flour, then 1 cup of white flour — mixing until the dough is slightly sticky. You may not need all of the flour. Stir in the salt.

3) Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it until smooth and elastic, 5 minutes.

4) Dampen a kitchen towel and wring it out well.

5) Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in it, and turn the dough over so that it is lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with the damp kitchen towel and set it aside in a warm, draft-free place until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

6) Gently punch down the dough to deflate it, and then divide it into thirds. (Or, for smaller pizzas, divide the dough into quarters. The baking time will be the same whether you make a large or small pizzas.) Keep the pieces you are not working with covered with the damp towel.

7) To form a piece of dough into a ball, flour your hands and then pull the opposite edges of a piece of dough toward the center. Pinch them together to form a seal. Working around the circumference, continue pulling and pinching the dough until a smooth, tight ball forms. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. The dough is now ready to be used to make a pizza. Or, wrap the balls of dough individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for up to 24 hours or freeze them for up to 2 months (let the frozen dough thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using).

Mine came out a little too big (oops), but we didn’t mind!

Irresistible Mini Calzones

Unbleached all-purpose flour, for dusting Dough for 1 pizza, homemade (see above) or store-bought

Cornmeal, for the peel

Extra-Virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups Myra’s Heirloom Tomato Sauce (another recipe in the book), or store-bought marinara sauce

6 slices prosciutto, torn into small strips

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup pitted and sliced Kalamata olives

1) Position a rack at the lowest position in the oven, and if using a pizza stone, place it on the rack. Preheat the oven to 500’F for at least 30 minutes so that the stone will be hot.

2) Lightly flour a work surface, and a rolling pin if using. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Shape each ball of dough by patting it into a flat, round disk and then rolling it out on the work surface to form an 8-inch round, 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. (Or use your hands to gently stretch the dough into shape, pressing outward from the center, rotating the dough occasionally to form a round.)

3) If using a pizza peel, dust it generously with cornmeal. If not, turn a large baking sheet upside down and dust it with cornmeal.

4) Transfer the rounds of dough to the prepared pizza peel or baking sheet. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil.

5) Brush half of each round of dough with some of the tomato sauce. Divide the prosciutto among the 4 calzones, arranging the strips on the top of the sauce. Top with the mozzarella. Then sprinkle each calzone with 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese. Scatter the olives over the cheese, and then fold the unadorned half of the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges together to make a half-moon-shaped pie.

6) Lightly brush the top of the calzones with olive oil, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

7) Slide the calzones off the peel and onto the preheated stone, using a jerking motion to release them. (Alternatively, place the baking sheet in the oven.) Bake until the calzones are puffed and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

8) Meanwhile, pour the remaining totmato sauce into a saucepan and wram it over medium-low heat. (Alternatively, heat the sauce in the microwave.)

9) Serve the calzones hot, with warm tomato sauce on the side for dipping.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win your own Earthbound Cook cookbook AND Food to Live By, both by Myra Goodman; plus $100 worth of Organic food from their Farm Stand! After trying these calzones, you will really… really… really want this cookbook and if you can’t wait on chance, you can purchase Earthbound Cook for $13.78 at Barnes & Noble.

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