Recipe: Spinach Calzone

A calzone is folded-over pizza that in the oven becomes a crusty half-moon sandwich of sorts. Rama Muralidharan stuffs her semi-circular Italian offerings with a spiced spinach, paneer and melty cheese.

Ingredients

For the base:

• 2 cups maida or all-purpose flour
• 1 cup multigrain atta or wholewheat flour
• 1 tsp salt

Ingredients, continued

For the base, continued:

• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for greasing the bowl and the oven tray
• ½ cup warm water

Ingredients, continued

For the filling:

• 3 cups spinach, wash, well-dried with a kitchen towel
• 1 cup grated paneer
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

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For the filling, continued:

• ½ cup grated pizza cheese
• ½ cup finely-chopped onion
• 1 tsp finely-chopped garlic

Ingredients, continued

For the filling, continued:

• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs, like oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary
• ½ tsp crushed chilly flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper powder

Method

For the base:

• In a small bowl, mix the sugar, yeast into the warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes until frothing.
• In another bowl, mix together the maida, atta, salt, yeast mixture and make a soft dough.

Method, continued

For the base, continued:

• Once mixed, knead the dough for 5 minutes using the olive oil little by little.
  Store it in a greased bowl for 3-4 hours till it rises well.

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For the filling:

• Finely chop the spinach leaves and keep aside.
• In a frying pan, saute the garlic, crushed red pepper, chopped onions in the olive oil over medium heat.

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For the filling, continued:

• Now add the chopped spinach, salt, black pepper and saute further.
  The trick is to cook the spinach quickly over high heat, stirring continuously.
  Then add the dried spices and cool to room temperature.

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For the filling, continued:

• Add in the paneer, cheese to the cooled spinach mixture and mix.
  Reserve a little cheese to sprinkle on top.

Assembly:

• Divide the risen dough into 12 equal portions.
  Using your palm or a rolling pin, roll each portion into a 4-inch diameter circle.

Method, continued

Assembly, continued:

• Place the 1-2 tbsp filling on one side of the circle.
  Wet the corners with little water and seal the edges giving it a semi-circular shape.
• Repeat this for the rest of the dough and let the calzones rest for at least 20 minutes.

Method, continued

• Sprinkle a little cheese on top of each calzone.
  Preheat an oven to 200 °C.
• Bake the calzones for 20-25 minutes on a greased oven tray.
  Serve hot with pizza sauce or cheese sauce; Makes 12.