I got a late start so I didn’t feel like making separate calzones and made a big one instead and then sliced it, so I’ll call this a Giant Vegetarian Calzone. Use your gluten-free flour mix if you want it g-f.
The first picture shows the yeast before adding any flour, after it sits a few minutes and starts bubbling. I use almost the same base for my pizza, which I’ll make soon. You can divide the dough into small circles if you’d rather have individual calzones, or if you’re alone because a giant rectangle is hard to move to the cookie sheet solo.
Giant Vegetarian Calzone
1 T active dry yeast
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t brown sugar
1 crushed garlic clove
½ t salt
1 C hot water
2 ½ C flour
¾ C ricotta cheese
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
2 C chopped mushrooms
6 oz bag spinach, wilted (wilted measures to ~2/3 Cup)
1 T chopped fresh basil
½ t oregano
Put the yeast, oil, brown sugar, garlic, and salt in a bowl. Run tap water to hot and add 1 cup to the bowl. Stir a few minutes until yeast and sugar dissolve. Let that stand while you put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spray it. The yeast mixture will start to bubble. Add the flour and stir until combined, then knead for 5-6 minutes. Form a ball and rub olive oil on it. Put the dough ball back in the bowl and cover it with a cloth for about a half hour. Now put just a splash of oil (1 t) in a pan and add the cleaned spinach. Heat for a few minutes to wilt the spinach — this way you can get a whole bag into the calzone.
Preheat oven to 375. Combine the rest of the ingredients, from the cheeses to the oregano. The dough will about double in size during its rest. Punch it down and put it on a floured surface and roll it out into a large rectangle. Spread the cheese mixture on half of the calzone leaving about an inch clean around the edge. Fold the edge over itself and crimp it shut with a fork.
If you want the top kind of shiny, you can beat an egg and brush some over the top. Bake 25 minutes. Let it sit 5 minutes before cutting if you can wait.
