Friday, February 24, 2012

Kammy's Three Cheese Ham Calzone

Did anyone else see the 'No Fail Pizza Dough" recipe on Pinterest?!  Well shucks, I did and I'm GLAD I did because my pizza crust is just never quite satisfactory to me.  Maybe it's because I never used bread flour and Lauren says it's a MUST.  (And here I had always had a sneakin' suspicion it was my five year old yeast in the freezer).  Well, I wanted something to try this pizza dough on and I have lots of cubed ham in my freezer since I bought like five hams when they were cheap at Christmas time.  (I cubed them up, put them in freezer containers and stuck them in the freezer to pull out for times like this!)  

Now on to the recipe - which was a big hit with the hubby!

Three Cheese Ham Calzone

For the crust, I used "Lauren's Latest" Fail Proof Pizza Dough (click HERE for more detailed instructions on making great dough and pictures). SKIP THE CRUST RECIPE IF you'd rather just go to Sam's and buy a premade one or use frozen bread dough - hey we don't always feel like being Martha Stuart!

 Crust Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup…depending on the heat & humidity}
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix.  Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn’t stick to your hands.  Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on high to knead for 6 minutes. Turn a timer on and walk away! Resist the temptation to stop earlier than 6 minutes! That seems to be the magical number.  Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn’t dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. 
Filling Ingredients: (sorry, I can't seem to get rid of the double spacing!)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded mozerella cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 cups cubed ham
Stir all ingredients but the ham together in a bowl.
Add ham to your mixture and stir well.
Spread ham and cheese mixture across the middle of your rolled out crust and fold the sides over, sealing the goodies all inside.  I took a knife and made slice marks across the top every inch or so to let some heat escape, and covered the top with dill weed and parmesan cheese.  You can add whatever you'd like to flavor the crust!  I baked it at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.  I think.  When I took mine out, the middle was still a little doughy so I cut it in half and put it back in for a few minutes and it was perfect.  Just keep an eye on it and get your heat and time just the way you want it.

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I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours did!  The leftovers are great to eat cold for lunch the next day too. :)
~~Kammy~~                                

3 comments:

  1. This looks like a wonderful idea for dinner! Do you know if this recipe would be good with Ricotta cheese also?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummy! I can never say now to golden crusty bread and cheese.

    ReplyDelete

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