This week’s recipe is for whole wheat calzones! I’m really excited to share this recipe one, because of how easy and quick these were to make, and two, because I think I’ve finally found a great go-to dough recipes for calzones that is sugar free AND oil free!
I’m always on the lookout for simple, oil free recipes. I was randomly craving calzones the other day, and so I started to research some potential recipes online. All of them called for sugar in the dough though, or egg, or oils, and I didn’t want to use any of those bad ingredients! I’ve already invented a killer dough recipe that works great for pizzas/flatbreads, but I was unsure of how the applesauce component would work for folding the dough in a calzone shape.
Well, after doing a bunch of research, I think I’ve figured out how to put together a really simple dough recipe that is healthy and only 5 ingredients.
I also invented two new sauces that go great with this whole wheat calzone recipe. A simple yet classic tomato-based pizza sauce with fresh basil, and a creamy cashew Alfredo-style “cheeze” sauce. Now, on to the recipes!
Homemade Oil Free Calzone Dough
This post is going to go by pretty quickly, because there really are just a few short steps to the whole thing. First, preheat your oven to 450 F and combine all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I’m old-school when it comes to my cooking tools, so I just used my hands to knead everything together really well for about 10 minutes.
The final outcome should be smooth and elastic looking like the picture above. You may need to use a few extra splashes of water during this process to make sure all of the flour becomes wet, but be careful not to add too much extra water.
Set it aside for 10 minutes to make the sauces.
Two Healthy Calzone Sauces
Classic Tomato-Basil Pizza Sauce
Sauce one is made up of 1 can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, fresh basil leaves, some Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt. Process: put everything in a blender and blend! No need to heat it up now, because it will get nice and hot inside the oven once they bake with our calzones. So for now, just set it aside!
Creamy Cashew “Cheeze” Sauce
The second sauce is just as easy. First you’ll want to soak your cashews in water for about 5-10 minutes though. This just helps to soften the nuts so that they blend easier in the blender. Once your cashews are done soaking, drain off the water and add them to a blender with the garlic powder, salt, soy milk, and nutritional yeast (the magic ingredient for making any kind of vegan “cheeze” flavor!).
Depending on how thick you want this creamy sauce, you can add a few extra tablespoons of soy milk to the blender until it reaches your desired consistency. Set this sauce aside and get ready to make some calzones!
Whole Wheat Calzones
By now your dough should be done “resting” and ready to use. While I waited for the oven to finish pre-heating I prepped the veggies I wanted to use in my calzones.
For my creamy calzones, I wanted to replicate a spinach and artichoke dip type of flavor. So I used the creamy cashew sauce I made, artichokes, spinach, onions, and mushrooms as my filling. It was awesome tasting! For my other calzones, I used the tomato-basil sauce along with fresh basil leaves, mushrooms, bell peppers, spinach, broccoli and black olives.
These are just the fillings/veggies I used for my whole wheat calzones. You can use whatever you want, obviously! Green peppers, jalepeno peppers, pineapple, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, banana peppers, zucchini, homemade pesto, whatever!
Assemble And Bake
The process for assembling the calzones is simple. Take a small handful of dough and roll it out on a well floured surface. If you have a rolling in this would be ideal. I used an aluminum cup (lol). Roll it out so that it is about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick. I would just eye-ball this part, but be careful not to roll them too-thin or the dough will break when you fold them.
Add your fillings then fold it in half and pinch the ends closed. Wetting your fingers with water to pinch the ends helps during this part. Finally, use a fork to crimp the ends and then poke some holes on the top of it so steam can release during baking.
This recipe made 5 very large whole wheat calzones, so you can mix and match the sauces and ingredients to make various flavors. Even though I ate these all over the last few days, I’m already excited to make them again. When I first made these, it was on a Saturday while my boyfriend was at work. Him and I enjoy cooking together for date night during the week, so I’m excited to make them with him sometime soon! I would have shared this batch with him, but it wasn’t until after I made them that I remembered… he HATES olives and mushrooms! Whoops! I felt bad, but the next time we’re craving Italian food for date night we can make these together with veggies that he likes too!
Anyway, I hope you like these whole wheat calzones. They’re easy, healthy, and one of my favorite new recipes I’ve invented in awhile. If you try it, let me know how it was! I’d love to know what customizations you made, and what your favorite calzone fillings are. Enjoy!
Whole Wheat Calzones With 2 Sauces
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 packet dry active yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tsp salt
Tomato Basil Sauce
- 1 15oz can of tomatoes
- 1/2 6oz can of tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 3-4 fresh basil leaves
- pinch of salt
Creamy Cashew Sauce
- 1 cup soaked cashews
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3-4 TBS nutritional yeast
- scant 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened plant milk of choice
Other
- Vegetables of your choice for filling*
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 450 F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
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Combine all dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl and knead with your hands until the dough can be formed into a ball that is smooth and elastic. Set aside for 10 minutes to let the dough rest.
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While the dough rests, you can make your sauces. Add the cashews in a bowl of water and set aside for 5-10 minutes to soften. In the meantime, combine all tomato-basil sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. After soaking the cashews, drain the water and add all creamy sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Set both sauces aside.
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After letting the dough rest for 10 minutes, grab a handful of dough and roll it into a circle on a well floured surface. It should be about ¼ an inch thick (but not too thin).
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Place your sauce and fillings on one side of the rolled out circle, then fold it in half. Press the edges together with your fingers (wetting your fingers may help to press the dough together).
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Crimp the ends with a fork, then poke a few holes on top so steam can escape during baking.
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Bake for 15-20 minutes. Rotate the trays halfway through the baking time.
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Serve with extra tomato-basil or cashew sauce on the side!
Notes
* I find that pre-cooking some of the vegetables before placing them in the calzones for baking works really well. So I steamed all my veggies a bit before putting them in my calzones.
