Wheat Flour Calzones/ Stuffed Pizza/ Pizza Pockets
I do not remember exactly how long it took for me to turn to baking breads and pizzas from the time when I started baking. The word baking does mean making cakes for most novices. I was no different. This month as you would have been aware we blogging marathoners are planning to do all baked items, I am also using this time to walk down the memory and share some early days of baking experiences. There is no baker who would have not failed and I mean miserably failed in the kitchen while attempting to make a baked dish.
You may have heard that baking is science, also there is a lot of emphasis on exact measurements, weights, temperature, consistency of ingredients etc etc. While all of that is true and correct, it still does not guarantee you assured results.
The simplest thing to note is that you will learn after experimenting. There will be a lot of pain, agony and frustration over failed outcomes. But trust, you are not alone and plus I have never come across someone who had attempted a couple of times and then given up on baking. If you may know about someone who had tried once and then gave up but that could be purely circumstancial or chance entry in to the baking world. Coming back to the point, if you fail, learn from it..try to eat what you made and figure out the basic texture difference or taste difference. You need to study your bakes to know what works and what does not...ideally keep a diary of what you made and what you felt of the result and keep it handy next time you bake it.
And while you ponder over these thoughts, let me talk about this week's cooking, I plan to focus back on yeast and help you make some basic and few fancy stuffed breads this week.
Let us kick off with the very basic and popular calzone recipe. I have used whole wheat flour but you can always use the flour of your choice for this one.
Ingredients
3 1/2 cup of Whole wheat flour
3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 1/4 tspn instant yeast
1 3/4 cup of warm water (luke warm, should be
4 tspn sugar
2 tspn honey
1 tspn salt
2 onion finely chopped
3 tomatoes finely chopped (deseeded)
2 capsicum finely chopped (membranes and seeds removed)
2 tbsp jalapenos
2 tspn mix dried italian herbs
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tspn red paprika
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp grated cheese (cheddar + mozarella)
salt to taste
Method
1) In a large vessel add the flour mixed with salt , make a well in the centre
2) Add the yeast, sugar, honey and 1 cup warm water in the well. Start rubbing in the flour into the well and start kneading it. Add the remaining water as required to make a soft sticky dough
3) Now rub in the oil and knead the dough for good 8-10 min. Cover with kitchen towel and set aside in a warm dark place for 20-30 min or until it doubles in size
4) In another bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling and keep it ready
5) After the dough has doubled, make about 6 small balls of it. Roll out each to form a small 6-7 inch disc
6) Now place 2-3 tbsp of the filling in the centre. Fold the disc into covering the filling and lightly press the edges to seal. Brush the top with some butter or oil and keep aside. Repeat for the remaining
7) Bake in a preheated oven on a greased baking sheet for 8-10 min at 220 C
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51
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