Fiore Moletz, founder of Della Terra and Bur’ghers, brings a ton of personality and flavor to everything he does. He can’t help it. It’s who he is. And thank heavens: when you sit down to a meal he’s ready. This way you can just relax and let the bravura flavors play out on your palate. He’s already assessing everything. You’re in good hands. Below, Fiore shares his recipe for a Sausage and Squash Calzone. Plus, he includes two options for your dough for this calzone. One call for traditional yeast and the other a Sourdough starter, and both will produce a delicious calzone!
What is a Calzone?
A calzone is essentially a savory Italian turnover. It’s a pizza-like dish using folded dough (almost like two slices of pizza on top of each other) and a variety of ingredients. While similar to a stromboli, which is rolled, a calzone is typically sealed along the edges like a Cornish pasty or empanada. Common fillings include ricotta cheese, mozzarella, other cheeses, meats like ham or pepperoni, vegetables, and sometimes a tomato-based sauce, though the sauce is often served on the side for dipping
Sausage and Squash Calzone
Description
Bake up this savory calzone at home instead of ordering pizza for takeout.
Ingredients
- Calzone dough
- 3 oz cooked and sliced hot fennel sausage
- 3 oz fresh mozzarella, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 oz roasted butternut squash
- Fried sage leaves – for garnish
- Honey – for garnish
- Parmesan Cheese – for garnish
- EVOO
Instructions
- Preheat oven for 1 hour with a baking stone inside on the middle rack to hottest temperature oven can achieve, usually 500 degrees F. Once pre-heated for 1 hour, switch oven to broil on the highest setting for 5 minutes. During this time, prepare your calzone.
- Sauté sage leaves in oil over medium heat until crisp, then cool on paper towels.
- Take linked sausage and sauté in oil over medium heat. Once browned on one side, flip and sear the other side. Once browned on both sides, deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Cook out half of the vinegar, and add 1/2 cup chick stock. Bring to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook until sausage reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Allow the sausage to cool. Then slice into 1/4 inch slices.
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For the butternut squash or squash of your choice, turn on the broil setting on the oven to high. Peel skin from squash. Dice squash into 1/2-inch cubes. Toss Squash in olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on a sheet tray so there is an even layer of squash. Place under the broiler on the second rack down from the top. Roast squash in the oven until tender and moderately charred.
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Take a proofed dough ball and place in flour on both sides. Remove from flour and place on a dry surface that has been lightly dusted with flour. Begin to press air out of dough by patting dough in the middle of the dough, all the way to the edge of the dough. Stretch dough to a 12-inch diameter. Along the bottom half of the dough, arrange sausage, mozzarella, and squash in an even layer. Fold over the top half of the dough in it meets the edge of the bottom. Using your finger, seal the edge of the dough together by pressing firmly into it. Rip two small wholes into the top of the calzone to allow air to escape during cooking.
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Transfer calzone to a pizza peel. Turn off broiler setting in oven, and switch it back to 500 degree F bake. Slide calzone onto baking stone. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until browned and Calzone is cooked through out. Using a Thermometer, calzone should reach at least 200 degree internally.
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Remove from stone. Garnish calzone with crumbled fried sage leaves, parmesan cheese, honey, and EVOO. Serve immediately.
Calzone Dough
Description
You can make a pull-apart calzone dough with either sourdough starter or yeast.
Ingredients
With sourdough starter:
- 625 g ’00’ pizza flour
- 395 g water
- 90–95 degree F water
- 55 g starter yeast
- 17 g sea salt
With yeast:
- 700 g ’00’ pizza flour
- 475 g water, 90-95 degree F
- 5 g fresh yeast, or 2 g instant yeast
- 17 g sea salt
Instructions
With starter:
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In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk salt into water until dissolved. Then add sourdough starter to water and mix with a spatula, not a whisk. If you use a whisk, the starter will stick to the whisk.
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Add you flour directly to the bowl with the water/salt/starter mixture. Attach the bowl to the mixer with the dough hook, and mix on lowest setting for 4-5 minutes. Check sides and bottom of bowl to ensure no dry flour still in the bowl. If there is, mix dough for a few minutes more.
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Once mixed, allow dough to rest in the bowl and on the hook for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, turn the mixer back on and mix for additional minute, just until the dough is pulled off of the bowl slightly. Then remove the hook from the bowl, cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.
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After dough has rested, divide the it into 4 equal portions (300 grams each), and shape into balls while pushing out as much air in the dough as possible. Once balled, cover the dough so it is air tight and allow the dough to proof in a warm area until it has almost doubled in size, around, 6-8 hours.
With yeast:
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In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the warm water. Then then crumble the yeast into the water and let sit for 10 minutes.
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Add flour and salt to water/yeast mixture. Attach the bowl to the mixer with the dough hook, and mix on lowest setting for 4-5 minutes. Check sides and bottom of bowl to ensure no dry flour still in the bowl. If there is, mix dough for a few minutes more.
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Once mixed, allow dough to rest in the bowl and on the hook for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, turn the mixer back on and mix for additional minute, just until the dough is pulled off of the bowl slightly. Then remove the hook from the bowl, cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.
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After dough has rested, divide the it into 4 equal portions (300 grams each), and shape into balls while pushing out as much air in the dough as possible. Once balled, cover the dough so it is air tight and allow the dough to proof in a warm area until it has almost doubled in size, around, 6-8 hours.
Recipe by Fiore Moletz
Styling by Keith Recker
Photography by Dave Bryce
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