Ham and cheddar pretzel calzones

Calzones are one of those things I never order whenever I go to a restaurant, but I always think they look delicious when I see others eating them. I like to think of them as fancy hot pockets, which is probably why I won't pay $10 for one. A cheaper option? Make them yourself! This recipe is a little twist on the classic calzone because it uses pretzel dough!

Ham and cheddar pretzel calzones

Recipe from taste-for-adventure.tablespoon.com

Cooking time: 2 hours

Yield: 8 calzones

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tbsp granulated sugar

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp salt

1 bunch broccoli, heads trimmed and cut into smaller heads

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups chopped deli ham

1 large egg yolk milked with 1 tbsp water

kosher or pretzel salt for topping calzone

Directions

1. In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add in melted butter, flour, and salt, and using the dough hook attachment, knead for about 5 minutes or until dough is slightly sticky and has completely pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, roast the broccoli: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and place in a roasting pan. Roast until lightly brown and slightly crunchy, about 20-30 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Keep oven on at 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
6. When dough is nearly doubled, prepare the water bath: Bring water and baking soda to a boil in a large stockpot.
7. When dough is doubled, remove from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a bowl. Flatten each ball into a 8-inch long circle.
8. Place some cheddar, then some ham, then some broccoli in the center. Fold one end of the circle over to the other end to form a half moon; pinch ends tightly to seal. Repeat with each piece of dough.
9. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower one calzone at a time into hot water bath and boil for 30 seconds, flipping over halfway through. Remove from water bath and place on prepared baking sheets. Repeat with each calzone.
10. Brush calzones with egg wash and sprinkle with salt. Bake 12-15 minutes or until calzones are a deep golden brown. Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving.

Nutritional Analysis:
per calzone: 488 calories, 17.1g fat (9.5g saturated, 1.1g polyunsaturated, 5.0g monounsaturated), 62.8g carbohydrates, 4.1g fiber, 20.8g protein

Pizza Dipping sauce

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 1 1/2 cups sauce

Ingredients

1 6 oz can tomato paste

6 fl oz warm water

3 tbsp grated Parmesan

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp honey

3/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/8 tsp chili flakes

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and heat thoroughly. Remove from heat and serve. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 288 calories, 1.3g fat (0.5g saturated, 0.4g polyunsaturated, 0.3g monounsaturated), 70.0g carbohydrates, 7.7g fiber, 8.6g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

People are always finding recipes or ways to make a bread or dough without the kneading process, but when you have a kitchen aid mixer, kneading is no problem at all! Just use your dough hook and let your machine do all the work. This dough is very easy to work with, only slightly sticky, elastic, and pliable. 

While you let your dough rise, roast your broccoli. You don't want it to be too soft since it will bake once more inside the calzone. I only roasted mine for 20 minutes and they were nice and crisp tender. Also when you are cutting up the broccoli, keep in mind that these are going to be inside the dough; you want to cut it to small pieces so they fit!

An easy way to portion the dough without a scale: cut the dough in half. Shape in balls and cut each ball into quarters. Voila!

Don't worry about rolling the dough into perfect circles since they will be folded over. I personally like my calzones with more filling than dough so I rolled them out a bit thinner than they were supposed to be (should be about 1/4 inch thick).

I also used a bit more filling since the portions were larger. Be careful when folding the dough over, you do not want to stretch it out too thin or it will rip. I chose to seal my calzones creating folds but you can also seal with a fork or fold it over. 

Dipping the calzones in the water bath doesn't take long at all so I did in batches, only 2 at most at a time. You will see them poof up in the water. Make sure to drain as much of the liquid when removing the calzones from the water bath. 

Brush on the egg yolk/water mixture, salt and time to bake!

Look how golden brown they look with the cheese oozing out and the broccoli heads peeping out! I was very excited to try them as soon as they came out of the oven.

My only problem with this recipe is one that I seem to have when baking any item that was dipped in a water/baking soda bath. The calzones are wet prior to baking so the bottom doesn't get crispy as they should and they stick to the paper. I'm thinking that it's because the paper I use isn't technically parchment paper with the glossy sides; it's more similar to sandwich papers. It doesn't seem like other people have this issue so it's probably just the paper; however, if you have this issue like me I recommend trying to bake them on just a greased baking sheet or a rack on a baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray.

Now for the taste: this calzone sure did aim to please! I was worried the salt would make it too salty especially with the ham inside but the crust and broccoli balance it out. The dough is slightly chewy yet still soft, hard on the outside but soft on the inside. It really is a combination of a calzone dough with a pretzel, and you have ham and cheese inside! Serve with the pizza dipping sauce on the side and your tummy will be more than satisfied!