Vegan Calzone!

A big slice of vegan calzone. Hard to beat!

Olives, mushrooms, yellow pepper, tomato and vegan ricotta!

There are three components to this vegan calzone: dough, ricotta and veggies - I used very basic store bought jar of tomato and basil spaghetti sauce, which cut down on the work a lot. You'll need to set aside some time for the dough -  I made the ricotta when I made the dough, and I think it benefited because it had time to marinade. 

The Dough 

Your dough should look like this once risen.

1/2 pack quick-rise yeast

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1 TBS oil

Stir yeast into warm water. Let sit about 5 minutes.

Stir together flour, sugar, salt and nutritional yeast.

Stir the yeast/water mixture and the oil into the dough.

Knead on a floured surface for 7-8 minutes.

Dough should be smooth, and not sticking to your hands at all.

 Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place for at least an hour.

The Ricotta 

This vegan ricotta benefits from an hour or two in the fridge.

1.5 TBS toasted almond slivers 

12 oz firm tofu

1 large garlic clove

1.5 tsp onion flakes, soaked in an equal amount of water, then drained

1.5 tsp dried oregano

1 TBS nutritional yeast

2 tsp lemon or lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Toast the almonds at 400 until brown, about 5 minutes.

Warning: watch the almonds very carefully, they are super easy to burn!

Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the calzone.

The Veggies

Black olives, white mushrooms, red tomatoes and yellow bell peppers.

1 large roma tomato - seeded and chopped

About 2/3 can of black olives, quartered

1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped

About 1 and 1/4 cups crimini mushrooms, chopped

 1/2 tsp oil

 Pinch of salt

Dry saute the mushrooms over medium high heat, with a sprinkle of salt.

(I'm a big mushroom hunter, the best way to cook mushrooms is usually to dry saute them. This means putting them in a hot pan without oil, and just a sprinkle of salt. Stir frequently. After a minute or two, the water starts coming out of the mushrooms and evaporating. Once most of the water is gone, turn down to medium low heat, and, for this recipe, add just a little oil - about 1/2 teaspoon.) 

After you turn down the heat and add the oil, add the peppers.

Cook over medium heat about 2 more minutes.

Drain onto a paper towel, set aside.

Do not saute the olives or tomato. 

Assembling the Calzone

Rolled calzone dough with sauce.

Here's the fun part, it's also easy!

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about a 16" diameter, or 1/8" thick.

Mix together the ricotta and the veggies. (I left out about 1/2 cup of my ricotta due to preference)

Add the sauce to 1/2 of the dough.

Add the filling to cover the sauce.

Before you crimp it shut, your calzone should look about like this.

Fold over the dough, and crimp it shut.

Put a thin layer of sauce over the closed calzone.

Not my prettiest picture, but you get the idea.

Now, carefully transfer the calzone to a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 450 until golden brown. About 23 minutes in my oven.

Enjoy!