Dessert Calzones In Your Pizza Oven
It’s about time that some well-earned attention is paid to pizza’s often-overshadowed, but an entirely underrated cousin, the calzone. A baked Italian staple that possesses unparalleled diversity in its preparations, they can be easily cooked in a wood-burning oven and offer an equally delicious alternative (or even companion!) to its more famous counterpart.
Here is a brief history to the humble calzone, and instructions for a unique dessert calzone recipe that you can add to your list of wood-fired oven recipes!
In a city called Naples…
Calzones, much like their bigger brother, originated in the city of Naples. Their current name derives from the clipped, Southern Italian dialect pronunciation of their original name calzoni, which literally means “pants legs.” In a brief history detailed by Eater, the origin is suggested to be a result of pizza diners wanting a pocket-sized slice they could eat on the go.
The original Neapolitan pizzas were soft in the center and were eaten with a fork and knife, whereas a calzone could be taken out the door and eaten on the move. (Seems like people led busy lives in Naples.)
Interestingly enough, the calzone seems to have maintained its historical form better than the pizza has. It’s common knowledge that the average American pizza is substantially different from those served in sunny Italian brickhouses in the past, but the calzone retained the majority its antique hallmarks, with ingredients being the only exception.
It’s possible to find giant calzones, but most are still baked from a personal-sized, traditional crust pizza recipe folded in half and stuffed with classic ingredients. Perhaps preservation of tradition is the reward of relative obscurity.
Cooking dessert calzones
In typical American fashion, we’ve decided to show you how to stuff a calzone full of sweets. (You’re welcome!) While a classically-inspired calzone recipe would consist of your usual pizza toppings, a calzone opens up plenty of opportunities to experiment with different ingredients, pushing the limits of what you can cook in your pizza oven.
In general, serving a dessert pizza might earn you some weird looks, but a calzone’s pocket-like nature gives it the advantage of falling under the pastry category and therefore makes a dessert calzone far less strange than it would be as a pizza.
Now that we’ve given oodles of kudos to our little, underappreciated friend, here’s Chicago Brick Oven President, Carmen Parisi with a delicious dessert calzone recipe for your brick oven!
Looking for more pizza oven dessert recipes? Use the code EBOOK5 to take $5 off our Recipes eBook for other desserts to cook in your pizza oven!
Still looking for a wood-fired pizza oven for your own backyard? Check out the Chicago Brick Oven CBO-750 Backyard Pizza Oven which is perfect for baking calzones right at home!
