Gluten free calzones
These homemade gluten free calzones are egg free, nut free, and vegetarian friendly.
Servings: 6 calzones
Ingredients
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
Gluten free calzone dough
- 3 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 packet yeast (around 2 1/4 teaspoons)
Olive oil topping
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Making the calzone dough
- Combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast for the gluten free calzone dough in a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together then wait 10 minutes until the mixture starts to become frothy. The water should be warm, but not hot. You should be able to hold your finger in the water for 10 seconds without feeling any discomfort.
- Add the rest of the ingredients for the gluten free calzone dough to the mixing bowl with the water, yeast, and sugar. Mix the ingredients well and knead the dough a few times. Depending on the brand of flour you use, you may need to add a little more water or flour. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add water 1 tsp at a time until the dough comes together. If the dough is too loose or sticky, add more flour 1 tbsp at a time until the dough becomes easier to work with.
- Cover the bowl the calzone dough is in with a damp kitchen towl or a sheet or saran wrap. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size. If the dough is left in a warm area, it should take around 1 hour to double in size. If it is left in a cooler area, it will likely take more time.
Making the calzones
- Preheat your oven to 475 degrees and prepare your working surface by laying out a sheet of parchment paper on it. Lay another sheet of parchment paper out on a large baking sheet. You can put the calones on this baking sheet when you are done shaping them.
- Split the pizza dough into 6 equally sized balls of dough. Cover the balls of dough while you are not using them so that they do not dry out.
- Grab one ball of dough and flatten it until it forms a large circle that is about 1 cm in thickness.
- Add the mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, and basil to one half of the circle. Leave a rim aroud the edge of the calzone that is around 1/2 inch thick that does not have any toppings on it. Leaving a nice, thick rim of exposed dough around the edge of the calzone will make it easy to seal tha calzone without pushing any toppings out.
- Fold the half of the calzone dough that does have any toppings on it over the half of the calzone that does have toppings on it. Press down around the rim of the calzone to seal the top edge of the calzone to the bottom edge of the calzone. If you are having trouble getting the top of the calzone to seal over the bottom of the calzone, try using your fingers to apply some water to the dough.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the olive oil topping and brush some of the olive oil topping over the top of the calzone. This will help prevent the outside of the calzone from drying out.
- Cut a few airholes into the top of the calzone. These will allow steam and hot air to escape from the calzone as it cooks and prevent he calzone from bursting open.
- Put the calzone you just made on the baking sheet you lined with parchment paper. Repeat this process until you are all out of calzone dough.
- Bake the calzones at 475 degrees for 15-18 minutes. When the calzones are done, they should appear lighlty brown and make a hollow sound when you knock on them.
Notes
Pizza dough consistency. Different gluten free flour blends are made from different ingredients and therefore have different consistencies. Depending on the flour blend you use you might need to add a little extra flour or water to your dough. I recommended reserving 1/4 cup of extra flour and 2 tbsp of extra water to add to your dough as needed. In general, gluten free pizza dough should be a little more wet than regular pizza dough but still firm enough that it holds its shape. Xanthan gum. If your gluten free all purpose flour blend does not contain xanthan gum or a similar replacement for gluten then you should add around 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum per cup of flour. Tips for measuring flour. We recommend measuring flour by spooning the flour into a measuring cup then leveling off the flour with a butter knife. This is the most consistent way to measure flour. If you dip your measuring cup into the bag of flour, it will compress the flour and you will end up with extra flour. Store bought pizza dough. If you have a favorite store bought pizza dough, you can use this dough to make these calzones. Just skip past the section of the instructions about preparing the calzone dough.