Sausage and Soppressata Calzone

Makes 1 calzone (2 servings)

Most calzones tend to be gut-bombs overstuffed with cheese and other ingredients, like a pizza folded in half. The result is usually wet and mushy, and I end up longing for a slice of pizza instead. My longtime chef de cuisine, Seth Seligman, and I tried to solve these issues by taking a less-is-more approach to the calzone: We put fewer ingredients on the inside, and shape the dough into a long, skinny tube. Bending the tube into a horseshoe shape also helps elongate the calzone and stretch out the filling, so you end up with a thin, crisp crust and just the right amount of gooey filling.

• One 200-gram portion Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough
• ½ cup ricotta
• 4 ounces (about ½ cup) loose hot Italian sausage
• 2 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn or cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped basil
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 tablespoons Quick Tomato Sauce (page 201), plus 1 cup warm sauce for serving
• 2 to 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 5 or 6 slices soppressata or pepperoni

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Stretch the dough into a 12-by-5-inch rectangle and place on a floured pizza peel. Spoon a line of ricotta along the bottom fourth of the dough (a long side), leaving a little room at the edges for sealing. Top with small pieces of sausage across the ricotta, and scatter the mozzarella and basil on top of that. Sprinkle with the oregano. Fold the top of the dough over the bottom to form a long tube, and press the edges closed, making sure they’re well sealed. Use scissors to cut three 1-inch vents across the top of the calzone to allow steam to escape. Brush the top of the calzone all over with the tomato sauce and sprinkle enough Parmesan on top to give it a light coating. Lay the soppressata across the top of the calzone, making sure not to cover any of the vents.

Transfer the calzone to a baking sheet and carefully push the edges to make a U shape. Bake the calzone until the crust is well browned all over and the cheese is starting to bubble through the air vents, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before slicing. Serve with additional tomato sauce for dipping.

The Takeaway

By moving some of the calzone’s ingredients—tomato sauce, soppressata, and Parmesan cheese—to the outside of the dough, you not only get a better ratio of crust to filling, but the heat of the oven also caramelizes the exterior ingredients, which means more pizza-like flavor. You can apply this technique to focaccia and other homemade breads, or simply brush a store-bought baguette with tomato sauce and cover it with cheese (and pepperoni if you like) to make a quick, calzone-like loaf.