Ricotta Calzone

Ingredients

  • 1 quarter-recipe (180 g, about 6.3 ounces) of Doughm00se Pizza Crust
  • 2 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
  • 2 ounces Muenster cheese shredded
  • 5 ounces ricotta
  • 1 tablespoon grated Pecorino Romano cheese optional
  • extra-virgin olive oil optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven and pizza stone (on rack 3) to 500°F.
  2. On a piece of parchment paper, roll out dough to 10” circle.
  3. Fill half of the dough with cheese, starting with the shredded cheeses, then layer on the ricotta. It helps to drain the ricotta between sheets of paper towel, which also makes it a bit easier to place on top of the grated cheese.
  4. Fold the top half of the dough over the cheeses, and pinch to seal the seam.
  5. Cut a small slit in the top of the calzone.
  6. Transfer (still on the parchment) to the pizza stone, and bake for 3-4 minutes. Slide the calzone off the parchment while pulling the parchment out from underneath it. Continue to bake the calzone for a total of 10 minutes.
  7. If desired, brush lightly with olive oil as soon as the calzone comes out of the oven. This tastes good, but tends to soften the top crust.
  8. Wait about 3-4 minutes for the cheeses to solidify a bit before cutting into the calzone.

Notes

22 December 2022: Our initial attempt followed this recipe from Italian Food Forever. We weren’t planning on using spinach or any ingredients other than ricotta and mozzarella, but it gave us a starting point for how much dough and cheese to use, and time and temperature for baking. This time we used Polly-O ricotta, which was much too wet for this application. We mixed all of the cheeses together. We also used an egg wash for the top and to seal the seam, both of which we think are unnecessary.

23 December 2022: This time we tried layering the cheeses (shredded cheese, then ricotta, then shredded cheese). We baked the calzone for 18 minutes at 425°F.

30 December 2022: Today we used 6 ounces of ricotta, 4 ounces total of the mozzarella/Muenster mix, and no egg. We cut a 1” slit in the top of the calzone after forming it. We baked it for 17 minutes at 425°F on rack 3.

4, 5, 7 January 2023: We used 5 ounces ricotta and 2 ounces each of mozzarella and Muenster, with a small amount of grated Pecorino added to the mix. We baked it for 17 minutes at 425°F on rack 3, and brushed the calzone with a light coating of extra-virgin olive oil as soon as it came out of the oven.

3 February 2023: We used Biazzo ricotta (the driest we’ve found), plus 2 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella and 2 ounces of shredded Muenster. Came out perfect, not wet at all, and we liked the fresh mozzarella. I transferred the calzone (still on the parchment) to a small cooling rack for a few minutes after brushing with oil.

8 February 2023: We used Biazzo ricotta again, as well as fresh mozzarella, but this time we shredded the mozzarella. We also used 2 ounces of shredded American cheese instead of Muenster. The combination was good, but quite loose until it cooled a bit. We will try slicing both cheeses next time.

3 June 2023: We decided to try something new this time, and we liked it so much that I’m modifying the recipe given above. We baked it at 500°F and while the parchment paper doesn’t work at this high temperature, it was still easy enough to pull out the parchment after 3-4 minutes (the calzone did not stick to it) and finish baking the calzone right on the stone. It released easily when done baking, too. This time we used 4 ounces of whole milk mozzarella (not fresh) and no Muenster. The recipe is very forgiving, so just use whatever cheese you have and like.