Calzone Bites

One of my all time favourite food is pizza. I love, love love pizza. It can be so versatile, you can add any topping really that your heart desires, well almost anything, and there are ways to make this traditional diet busting comfort food, into a nutritious no problem, you can add it to your diet list of foods type of pizza. You can eat pizza and keep it healthy by not over loading your pizza with high fat foods such as bacon and pepperoni, although I know its difficult to even think about having pizza without pepperoni, but there are a lot of amazing tasting combinations you can add to your pizza that will make you forget about the pepperoni. My favourite toppings on a pizza are sun dried tomato, chopped green onion, chopped mushrooms, a small amount of fat reduced mozzarella cheese and feta cheese.

These small calzone bites are wonderful. It makes it a little easier to control the amount you eat because you can portion yourself. I made these for my son so the toppings I used in the pictures that you will see was pepperoni and mozzarella, but you can make them healthier by keeping the toppings vegetarian such as sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms, or pineapples and preservative free ham. It’s what ever you prefer, but keep in mind the healthier the toppings, the kinder it will be to your waist line.

Calzone Bites

Author: Alessandra

Recipe type: Pizza

Prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 2 hours 15 mins

Take a bite of these mini calzone bites They fit perfect in your hand, and they are made with the goodness of whole grain.

Ingredients

2 cups of organic whole wheat flour
1- ⅔ cups of organic unrefined, unbleached white flour
½ tsp. sea salt
2 cups of water divided
1 cup quick cook oats
1 tbsp. quick rising yeast
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. olive oil for coating dough
extra flour for dusting
Toppings of choice
marinara sauce for dipping

Instructions

Allow water from the tap to warm up till it a little warmer then lukewarm. place a bowl under the running water and warm it up.
Place 1 cup of that warm water into the bowl that you warmed up.
Pour 2 tbsp. of honey into water and sprinkle the 1 tbsp. of quick yeast over top, whisk lightly and set aside for the yeast to ferment, about 5-10 minutes, you will see it bubble and foam when it is ready.
In the meantime place 1 cup of water into a microwave safe bowl, add 1 cup of quick oats and microwave them for 1 minute.
In another bowl combine both flours and sea salt whisk to combine, add oats, and yeast water mix all ingredients until all ingredients are combined, do not over mix, you just want a sticky ball of dough to form where there are no dry ingredients left.
I usually pour about 1-2 tbsp. of olive oil in my hands and rub it around the dough, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel, keep the dough in a warm and dry place and allow to rise for about one to 1-1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. Just a tip that I have learned over the years. When you place the dough into a bowl and let it rise, make sure you don’t put it into a bowl that is too big, because the dough will have to much room for the heat to be lost and it needs warmth and heat for it to rise, place it into a bowl where there is not a lot of extra room, but enough for it to rise.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and pull dough out of the bowl after it has risen, knead it for about five minutes till it is nice and smooth, you may need to add extra flour if it is too sticky.
Place it back into the bowl and let it rise one more time, but only for ½ hour this time.
After ½ an hour take the dough out of the bowl and knead it again till you get a nice smooth dough.
Cut it into three equal parts.
Take one part and cover the other two with a clean kitchen towel so it does not dry out while you are working on the one.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle shape, cut 16, 3″x3″ squares
place a small portion of toppings including a cube of mozzarella cheese, fold the dough in half and press the edges together to seal it. Then using a fork press down on the edges to make sure they are well sealed.
Repeat steps with the rest of the dough.
Place them onto a lightly greased baking sheet. I just use a low fat non stick cooking spray.
Pre-heat oven to 425F
In a bowl mix olive oil, herb and garlic seasoning, and parmesan cheese, whisk to combine then using a brush, brush the tops of each calzone.
Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown in colour.
Remove from oven and serve with a marinara sauce.