Calzone for Bake your own Bread - We Knead to Bake 14

Going back to the Group's February assignment, where members chose to bake a bread of their own choice, I decided to go with the Calzone. This is an Italian bread, a filled and folded one at that, originating from Naples. The name possibly comes from the looks - the dictionary defines it as shoe. More nearly a stuffed stocking or a trouser's leg.
A typical one is filled with salami and cheese, while there are regional variations that include pizza toppings. The smaller calzones are sometimes deep fried in olive oil too. I thought it would work with a vegetarian filling too.

Aparna has done this with onions, peppers and paneer filling. We had tried that sometime last year when my daughter wanted to bake. We had liked them then and hence I did them again for the WKtB 14 bread.
I had plenty of tomatoes from which I could make home made marinara sauce to go with the bread.
I kept the dough recipe as given in Aparna's post and did the filling with hung curd crumbled, bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, and onions.

Calzone

Ingredients:
Makes 8 large calzones
For the outer dough:
2 cups all purpose flour
1and 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 and 1/3 tablespoon olive oil

For the filling
1 cup crumbled hung curd
1/4 cup tomatoes chopped and liquid drained
2 large bell peppers chopped
10-12 numbers olives
2 large onions sliced
2 teaspoons red chilli flakes
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil to sauté the vegetable

Method:
Place the active dry yeast and sugar in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of warm water and allow the yeast to come alive.
You may knead by hand or in the processor. I kneaded by hand.
Take the dough and salt in a bowl. Whisk a couple of times to mix.
Add the yeast mix to the dough and sufficient warm water to knead. Knead well, adding the olive oil and the herbs, until a soft and elastic dough is achieved.
Once the dough has been kneaded to required consistency, roll it like a ball and place it inside a bowl lightly coated with oil.
Turn the dough over in the oil to coat the surface too. Cover and leave aside for it to double in volume. This may take about an hour.
Meanwhile get the filling ready.
Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onions and sauté. When they have been cooked for about four minutes, add the bell peppers and cover and cook them for a few minutes.
Do not over cook them. The peppers have to hold a bit of crunch.
Just before removing from the heat, drop in the tomatoes, red chilli flakes, salt, and the olives.
Allow this to cool before adding the crumbled curd cheese.
Mix well and keep aside until ready to fill. Roughly divide this in 8 portions.
When the dough has developed, take it out to the working surface. Gently deflate it and divide into 8 equal portions.
Working on one portion at a time, roll the dough portion out in a 6" diameter circle.
Place one portion filling on the rolled out dough to one side (so you may be able to bring the other half over to cover and close), leaving some space along the edges.
Moisten the edge with a little amount of water and close the calzone in a half moon shaped one. Press the edges well with the tines of the fork, running it along the edge to seal.
Repeat this with the rest of the seven portions of the dough.
Keep the prepared calzone covered while working on the others.
Place them all on a greased baking tray and rest them for about 10 minutes to puff up. They will puff well.
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C and bake the calzones for 20 minutes until they are brown.
Serve them hot with marinara sauce and/or a drizzle of herb infused olive oil.
We had them for lunch along with sauté ed vegetables.

You might want to check out what other members had baked for this assignment in February. Have a look at this post where you might find links that lead you to beautifully baked breads.