Mushroom Calzones

I had calzones for the first time a couple of years back in a pizza outlet. We never really tried it again, but I decided to try my hands at it one weekend some time back. These days with my changed office timings I am mostly getting to cook only on weekends :-(. So it turned out quite nice and was perfect as an evening snack. Here goes the recipe…

Ingredients

2 ½ cups refined flour,

½ cup warm water,

½ tsp sugar,

1 ½ tsp dry active yeast,

2 tsps oil,

Salt to taste,

1 ½ tbsp.butter,

1 tsp of mixed spice seasoning

For the Filling

2 tsps oil,

200 grams sliced mushrooms,

1 tsp minced garlic,

Salt and pepper to taste,

1 tsp dried basil,

2 tbsps tomato sauce,

½ cup shredded cheese

Method

To Prepare the Filling

Heat the oil and add the sliced mushrooms and minced garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and tomato sauce. Mix well and turn off the heat.

Mix in the basil and the shredded cheese.

To Prepare the Dough

Add the sugar and dry active yeast to the warm water and let it stand till it turns frothy. Ensure the water is just warm, it shouldn’t be hot.

Add this frothy fluid to a mixture of flour, oil and salt. Knead this into a dough. Keep it aside in an oiled container till it doubles in volume.

Now punch it down and knead again and keep it aside for another half an hour.

                        

To Prepare the Calzones

Take a small lemon-sized ball of dough and roll into a 3 to 3.5 inch disc. Place about a tbsp. of filling in the center and fold the disc to form a half moon shape. Secure the edges. You can make any marks on the edges. I made marks using a fork. Make all the calzones in this same manner. Arrange them on a baking tray.

Preheat the oven for ten minutes at 200^oC. Bake the calzones for about 15-20 minutes.

   

Remove from the oven and brush them with butter and sprinkle the mixed spice seasoning. Serve warm.