Ham, Mushroom & Ricotta Calzone

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour (+ a little for the work surface)
• 1 sachet dried yeast (5 g)
• 240 ml lukewarm water
• 1 tsp fine salt (for the dough)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the dough, 1 for the mushrooms)
• 200 g tinned chopped tomatoes (½ of a 400 g tin)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 250 g button mushrooms
• 160 g cooked ham (4 slices)
• 250 g ricotta
• 1 ball mozzarella (125 g)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Mixing bowl
• Large frying pan
• Rolling pin
• 2 baking trays + baking paper
• Fork
• Knife

📖 Steps

1. Put the flour in the mixing bowl, then the salt on one side and the yeast on the other: in direct contact, the salt would slow down the yeast. Add the lukewarm water (pleasant to the touch, never hot) and 1 tbsp of oil, then mix with a spoon until it forms a ball.
2. Knead for 8 to 10 min on the floured work surface, stretching the dough with the heel of your hand then folding it back, until smooth and no longer sticky. Return it to the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise somewhere warm for 1 hour, until doubled in size.
3. While the dough rises, wipe the mushrooms with damp kitchen paper (washed under running water, they soak it up), trim off the earthy ends of the stalks and slice them. Fry them in 1 tbsp of oil with a pinch of salt over a high heat for 6 to 8 min, until golden. Set aside.
4. In the same pan, add the chopped tomatoes, crushed garlic, oregano and a grind of pepper. Reduce over a medium heat for 8 min, stirring, until a spoon drawn through leaves a clear trail: if too runny, the sauce would make the dough soggy. Leave to cool slightly.
5. Cut the ham into strips. Drain the mozzarella, dice it and pat it dry with kitchen paper to remove the whey. Preheat the oven to 220 °C fan and cut out 4 squares of baking paper about 25 cm on each side.
6. Knock back the dough by punching it down and divide it into 4 equal balls. Roll each one out on the floured surface into a disc about 22 cm across and 3 mm thick, then place it on a square of baking paper.
7. Top one half of each disc, leaving a 2 cm border clear: a quarter of the tomato sauce, the ricotta in small spoonfuls, the ham, the mushrooms, then the mozzarella. Don't overfill, or the calzone will burst open as it bakes.
8. Fold the empty half over the filling, press the edges together to seal, then roll them over on themselves and crimp with a fork. Cut two small slits in the top, then slide the calzones onto the baking trays on their paper, 2 per tray.
9. Bake the 2 trays together for 15 to 18 min, swapping them round halfway through, until the calzones are puffed up and golden brown. Leave to rest for 3 min before serving: the filling is scorching hot.