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Crust Worthy: The beauty of calzones is that they can be filled with just about anything

Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer

Carmine Farina shows off several calzones, including a new version (left) being served in Naples that pays homage to the city’s bay and nearby Mount Vesuvius.

By Michael Hastings

JOURNAL FOOD EDITOR

Published: April 22, 2009

Is calzone a stuffed pizza or a sandwich?

For Carmine Farina, it doesn't matter. It's just good, Italian comfort food.

"You can put anything you want in it," he said.

Farina, a co-owner of Francesco's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Winston-Salem, grew up in Naples, Italy, where his mother made calzone at home. "My mother would fry it in a pan. It makes the crust harder that way. I like it like that."

Originally from Naples, calzone is traditionally a half-moon-shaped stuffed pizza. It can be filled with meat, vegetables or cheese.

"For me, it's ricotta and mozzarella (inside pizza dough), and then anything else you want," Farina said.

In The Mediterranean Feast, culinary historian Clifford Wright says that another historian, Luigi Sada, believes that the first printed reference to calzone appeared in 1400. Wright says that another source suggests that calzone may go as far back as 1170.

Wright goes on to say that chef Carlo Middione suggests in The Food of Southern Italy that calzone may have descended from sanbusak, a pastry from the medieval Arab world.

Stromboli, though named after a volcano is Sicily, is an American invention, said to have originated in Philadelphia in the 1880s. It's different than calzone in that it has just meat and mozzarella, and no ricotta. It's also rolled up, so that it has several thin layers of pizza dough encasing the filling.

Farina, 37, said that calzone has ties in many cultures that stuff meat or cheese in dough and bake or fry it. "You see it through history. In Honduras, they make pupusas (with a cornmeal dough and cheese or meat filling). That's really just like calzone."

Even though Farina grew up with calzone and plenty of other Italian food, it was his first trip to the United States that led him to become a chef.

When Farina came to New York in 1987 as a teenager, he visited a friend for a month.

That friend happened to work in a pizzeria, so Farina spent a lot of time hanging out, watching and even helping. "I thought, ‘I can do this. This is fun.' Of course, I didn't know I'd be working 14-hour days," he said with a laugh.

Back home, he started training at a restaurant in Naples. "You can't just go in and make pizzas in Italy. They don't let you near the dough at first," Farina said.

No real Italian chef is going to let some greenhorn mess with his pizza dough. So Farina started at the bottom, doing such menial jobs as gathering wood for the wood-fired oven. "And I had to go way down the hill to get the wood," he said, laughing again.

Eventually, he learned to make pizza -- and a lot more. But he decided that he wanted to look for better opportunities. "South Italy is tough. There are no jobs. There is lots of crime. I wanted to step out of that," he said.

He came to the United States in 1997. He worked in New York and New Jersey restaurants for a year or two before coming to the Triad. He worked at different locations of Elizabeth's Italian restaurants before becoming a partner with Francesco Parascandolo.

They own a Francesco's at Summit Square and one on Jonestown Road, as well as Frank's Grill in Rural Hall. But Farina spends most of his time at the Jonestown restaurant.

Farina said that calzones here tend to be different than those in Italy. There, they aren't served in sit-down restaurants, but are made at home or sold by street vendors.

Calzone in Italy, and even in New York, often has the tomato sauce cooked in it, instead of being served on the side.

Calzone in Italy often is fried, rather than baked. He said that an Italian calzone often has an egg yolk mixed with the ricotta, especially when tomato sauce is added to the filling. The yolk helps firm up the filling and lessen the oozing of cheese when the calzone bakes. Meat is often chopped and mixed in with the ricotta, too, and not layered separately the way they usually are in Italian-American restaurants, including Francesco's.

Farina demonstrated a new version of calzone being served in Naples. The shape pays homage to the city's Bay of Naples and nearby Mount Vesuvius. This large calzone starts with a 12- to 14-inch circle of pizza dough. Ricotta, mozzarella and tomato sauce are put on a third of the dough. The dough is folded part way over the circle, so that two-thirds of the calzone is a mound and the rest is a flat area. The flat area gets topped with sauce and mozzarella, like a pizza. A slit is made in the mound and then it is baked. The flat area resembles the arc shape of the Bay of Naples, and the mounded area, with tomato sauce flowing out of it, resembles the Mount Vesuvius volcano.

For something different, Farina suggests shaping calzone dough into a half-moon shape without any filling. It will puff when baked. Then it can be sliced open and filled. "You can make a nice turkey sandwich," he said. "You can put anything you want," he said. "And you have warm, fresh bread."

To make a good calzone, cooks should start with the best ingredients. Farina said that the consistency of the dough makes a difference, too. Most store-bought dough is wet and sticky compared to his homemade dough, Farina said. When the dough has a lot of moisture, the crust bakes differently. Farina doesn't slit the top of his calzone before baking, but that's necessary with wet dough. Otherwise the large amount of steam created will produce a soggy crust.

He also said that it is important to not use too much flour when shaping the dough. Too much flour will dry the dough and make it hard to get a good seal. And excess flour on the dough can create a slightly bitter or burnt taste when the calzone is baked.

Calzone is infinitely versatile. Ingredients can include various combinations of olives, anchovies, sliced onions, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, capers, fresh basil, golden raisins, meat and cheese. It's even a good way to transform leftovers.

But Farina cautioned against the kitchen-sink approach to fillings. Vegetables, for instance, can make the filling watery. He also warns against too many ingredients. "If you have four or five toppings you end up not tasting any of it," he said. "The simpler, the better."

Carmine Farina's American-Style Calzone

Carmine Farina said that his dough is drier than most store-bought dough. If using wet, sticky store-bought dough, it will be necessary to lightly flour the work surface and to cut slits in the dough before baking.

11 ounces pizza dough

1 pound part-skim ricotta

Salt and pepper to taste

8 thin slices ham or salami, or 4 small handfuls baby spinach

4 to 8 teaspoons grated Parmesan, to taste, plus more for garnish

8 tablespoons grated mozzarella, or to taste

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Olive oil

1. Heat oven to 550 degrees, or 500 degrees if that's as high as your oven goes. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven for at least 30 minutes.

2. If the dough is wet and sticky, lightly flour the work surface. (But avoid using excess flour, or the calzone will not seal properly.) Stretch the pizza dough into a medium circle with your hands. (Farina first pulls the edges, then presses his fingers throughout the middle.) Then place dough over your two fists and rotate the dough constantly while stretching it into a large circle, 12 to14 inches in diameter and about ¼-inch thick. Cut the circle into four triangles, then stretch the dough with your hands into approximate 9-inch circles or ovals. (Alternatively, divide the dough into four pieces and roll out each into a 9-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.)

3. Place about 4 ounces of ricotta on one side of each piece of dough. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 slices of ham or salami, or one small handful of spinach. (If using spinach, first dry it well.)

4. Sprinkle with 1 to 2 teaspoons of Parmesan and about 1 tablespoon mozzarella.

5. Fold over the dough, and press all the edges together with your fingers. If desired, press a second time with the tines of a fork. Use a knife or pizza cutter to trim excess dough from the edge. If you started with wet, sticky dough, cut a couple of ½ inch slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

6. Bake 10 or more minutes, until lightly browned. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

Carmine Farina's Italian Calzone

This is how Farina's mother made calzone at home in Italy.

11 ounces pizza dough

1 pound part-skim ricotta

Salt and pepper to taste

1 egg yolk, beaten

4 thin slices ham, chopped

4 thin slices salami, chopped

4 to 8 teaspoons grated Parmesan, to taste, plus more for garnish

4 tablespoons tomato sauce, or to taste

8 tablespoons grated mozzarella, or to taste

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Olive oil

1. If the dough is wet and sticky, lightly flour the work surface. (But avoid using excess flour, or the calzone will not seal properly.) Stretch the pizza dough into a medium circle with your hands. (Farina first pulls the edges then presses his fingers throughout the middle.) Then place dough over your two fists and rotate the dough constantly while stretching it into a large circle, 12 to14 inches in diameter and about ¼-inch thick. Cut into four triangles, then stretch the dough with your hands into approximate 9-inch circles or ovals. (Alternatively, divide the dough into four pieces and roll each out into a 9-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.)

3. Place ricotta, egg yolk, salt and pepper, ham, salami and Parmesan in a bowl and mix well. Place equal portions of the ricotta mixture on each of the four pieces of dough. Top each with about 1 tablespoon tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons mozzarella.

4. Fold over the dough, and press all the edges together with your fingers. If desired, press a second time with the tines of a fork. Use a knife or pizza cutter to trim excess dough from the edge. If you started with sticky dough cut ½-inch slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake 10 or more minutes, until lightly browned. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

Pizza Dough

Recipe adapted from Pizza (Broadway Books, 1998) by Michele and Charles Scicolone. Bread flour will make a slightly crisper crust that works better for calzone, but all-purpose flour is OK.

1 envelope active dry yeast (2½ teaspoons)

1⅓ cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

3½ to 4 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl. Let stand 1 minute or until the yeast is creamy. Stir until the yeast dissolves.

2. In a large bowl, combine 3½ cups of flour and the salt. Add the yeast mixture and the oil and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead, adding more flour if necessary to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

3. Lightly coat a large bowl with oil. Place dough in the bowl, turning it to oil the top. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm, draft-free place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. (If making calzone, stop here and refer to calzone recipes for rolling and shaping the dough.)

4. To make pizza, flatten dough with your fist. Divide into 2 pieces. Shape into balls. Dust the tops with flour.

5. Place the balls on a floured surface and cover with plastic wrap, allowing room for the dough to expand. Let rise 1 hour until doubled.

Makes enough for two large pizzas or four 9-inch calzones.

Quick Tomato Sauce for Pizza and Calzone

Recipe adapted from The New Best Recipe (America's Test Kitchen, 2004) by the editors of Cook's Illustrated.

1 28-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press

Salt and ground black pepper

1. If using diced tomatoes, place in a food processor and process until smooth.

2. Heat oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the garlic is sizzling, about 40 seconds. Stir in tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens enough to coat a wooden spoon, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Old-Style Calzone

Recipe adapted from The Mediterranean Feast (William Morrow, 1999) by Clifford Wright. This makes a thinner crust, so one batch of dough goes further, making eight calzones.

1 recipe pizza dough (from recipe above)

⅓ cup raisins

1 cup tepid water

10 ounces spinach, heavy stems removed and washed well

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

⅓ cup pine nuts

1 pound ricotta cheese

Semolina flour (or cornmeal) for sprinkling

1. Divide dough into 8 balls.

2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put raisins in warm water to soak and soften.

3. Place spinach with only the water adhering to its leaves in a large saucepan. Cover and steam until it wilts, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander. Squeeze out excess liquid. Coarsely chop and set aside.

4. In a saucepan, heat oil and garlic over medium heat just until garlic turns light brown. Discard garlic. Add pine nuts and cook until light brown, about 2 minutes, watching carefully so they do not burn. Add spinach, stir and cook 3 minutes. Thoroughly drain raisins, add them to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Push the balls of dough down with your fist. On a lightly floured surface, roll or stretch them into 8 circles about ⅛-inch thick about 9 inches in diameter. Place one-eighth of the filling on one half of each circle of dough, leaving a ½-inch border. Fold over dough to form a half-moon shape. Press or pinch dough with tines of a fork to thoroughly seal.

6. Sprinkle a baking sheet with semolina or cornmeal. Spread calzones on sheet. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. If not serving immediately, cool on a wire rack.

Makes 8 calzones.

Making calzone

Here are some tips for making calzone:

□ Don't overfill the calzone, or it will leak. Leave at least a ½-inch border when you add filling.

□ Be sure to seal the edges well; otherwise, you can end up with a big mess.

□ To get a good seal and prevent leakage, press the edges together once with your fingers and a second time with the tines of a fork. Or fold the edge over on itself after first pressing together with your fingers.

□ Filling ingredients generally should be pre-cooked.

□ Remove as much moisture as possible from wet ingredients to avoid a soggy crust. Cooked spinach should be thoroughly squeezed. Tomato sauce should be thick and used in small quantities.

□ If necessary, brush off excess flour from calzone before baking. Otherwise the flour may burn and add a slightly bitter taste.

□ Don't brush the top with oil until after the calzone has baked. Adding oil beforehand can cause burning when baked at 500 to 550 degrees.