Calzoni fritti is a delicious and savoury Italian fried calzone filled with mozzarella, ham, and basil.
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Category
Lunch
Servings
4
Prep time
2 hours
Cook time
20 minutes
Calzoni fritti is a delicious and savoury Italian fried calzone filled with mozzarella, ham, and basil.
Ingredients
- 500g (4 cups) 00 flour
- 7g (2¼ tsp) dry active yeast
- 8g (1½ tsp) sugar
- 60g (2 oz) lard, room temperature
- 10g (2 tsp) salt
- 200g (7 oz) low-moisture mozzarella, diced
- 150g (5 oz) leg ham, chopped
- 10 large basil leaves
- oil for frying (olive oil recommended)
Directions
Start by adding 300ml (10 fl oz) of warm water to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the sugar and yeast. Mix for 2-3 minutes until the yeast dissolves. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do this in a large bowl with a spoon.
- Next, add the flour and mix on low speed until all the flour is absorbed and the dough comes together. This will take 3-4 minutes in a mixer or 5-6 minutes by hand.
- Add the room temperature lard and continue mixing on low. After 1 minute, add the salt, and continue mixing until the lard is completely absorbed into the dough.
- Remove the dough from the mixer and form it into a tight ball. Grease a bowl with olive oil, place the dough in it, cover with a tea towel, and set aside to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and divide it into 4 equal pieces. Flatten each piece into a circle.
- Place some of the mozzarella, ham, and basil on the bottom half of each circle. Fold the top half over and crimp the edges tightly to seal.
- Preheat oil in a deep pan to roughly 160°C (320°F). Carefully lower each calzone into the oil, one at a time, and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until they are a deep golden colour. I recommend olive oil for frying (not EVO) as it gives a great flavour, but you can use any frying oil you prefer.
- Remove the calzoni from the oil and place them on a wire rack to drain. Let them cool for 5 minutes before serving.