Papoose Calzone

Today, my husband invited a friend over to hang out and watch football. Football, as it often does, corresponded with dinner time, and I thought I'd be a good hostess and actually cook. I haven't been doing much of that since our daughter was born. Scott and I were mostly living on leftovers of things people made for us, take-out sushi, and cereal. And I couldn't, in good conscience, feed a guest cereal. Maybe if the guest was Intolerable Steve. But it wasn't.
So I was looking around, trying to think what to make, and I was looking at my daughter all wrapped up in her blanket, and I thought she looked really cute, like a papoose.
And that made me think about things wrapped up like papooses. And that made me think about foods wrapped up like papooses. And a calzone looks a lot like a papoose, sort of. And I had some mozzarella and pepperoni in the fridge. So I was like, "Right on, Papoose," to Ivy, and then I made this:

Calzone Dough

In a large mixing bowl, combine:

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato flour
1 cup garbanzo bean flour 
3/4 cup cornstarch  
3/4 cup potato starch  
1/2 cup tapioca flour  
1/2 cup sorghum flour  
2 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum  
2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar  
1/2 teaspoon salt  

It's a lot of different flours, which is what makes this recipe such a bitch. But it turns out SOOOO good. Trust me.


Ok, now in a bread machine, put 2 cups of warm water and 1 tbsp of olive oil.
On top of that, add the flour mixture. On top of that, add 1 package active dry yeast. 

Set the bread machine to "dough" setting, and press go. 
You might need to watch it and push the dough down a few times as it mixes.

(If you do not have a bread machine, I'm pretty sure you can combine everything in a mixing bowl and just mix it by hand, or if you have one of those fancy mixers with hooks. Which I don't, so I don't know for sure. Because I do have a bread machine. If you don't, try it some other way and let me know how that goes.)

After the first kneading cycle, take the dough out and combine it into a ball. (I suggest flouring your hands and a bowl for this step. The dough is very sticky initially.) 

Next, roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is about as thick as your pinky.

Spread the rolled-out dough with a very thin, even layer of softened unsalted butter.  Roll the dough up jelly-roll style, fold into thirds, and then pat back into a ball shape, but do not knead it! You want to maintain the thin layers of butter throughout the pastry.  

Put the ball back into the bread machine with the lid closed to rise.  
Bread machines are different, so be familiar with your machine's settings. 
Mine raises dough for an hour and then has a final knead cycle, so I left my dough-ball in the machine to rise for about 45 minutes and pulled it out before the last knead cycle. 

Divide the raised dough in half and shape into 2 balls. Set one aside. 

Roll out first ball on a floured surface to a large circle about as thick as your pinky. 
This is your calzone shell. Fill it with yummy stuff!

I happened to have, in my fridge, courtesy of Bean, some pepperoni, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese. So I just chopped that stuff up and tossed it with a teeny bit of olive oil and black pepper. It was very delicious.

Lay the filling on one half of the calzone dough, leaving a half-inch edge. Then, fold over the top and roll up the edge, pinch-pressing to seal it. 

Bake in an oven pre-heated to 500 degrees on an olive-oiled baking sheet (or baking stone) for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden. 

Let rest for a few minutes before serving, so you don't burn everybody with molten cheese. 

I served mine with a quick marinara sauce I made from 8 oz of crushed tomato, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, a teaspoon of onion powder, a teaspoon of butter, a pinch of parsley, a pinch of red pepper and salt, black pepper, and Parmesan cheese to taste. 


It went over hugely well, both with Husband and Guest, and I felt it was well worth the pain-in-the-assery it took to make it.


I think this will be the dough we use from now on for pizza as well. I'd like to try a deep-dish style with it, maybe throw some goat cheese and sun-dried tomato on there... mmm.... goat cheese....

This is what Ivy looks like in her blanket, all papoosed-up.