Peach, Pancetta and Mozzarella Calzone
Make a Grilled Peach, Crispy Pancetta and Fresh Mozzarella Calzone with Fresh Watercress from Scratch
If you love pizza, you’ll love a Calzone! It is made with regular bread dough and folded in half once the toppings are added. Originally from the south of Italy, it is traditionally filled with different types of cheeses (such as rocotta, provolone and pecorino cheese) and salami, but can also include tomato, mozzarella and ham. Vegetarian options are also available in South Italy, with vegetables and mozzarella cheese making a great Calzone ingredients as well.
For this recipe, I used pancetta, which is different to bacon in that it is cured in a generous amount of salt and a spice mixture, whereas bacon is cured in just salt. Sometimes, bacon is also smoked to preserve the meat and enhance the flavour.
By grilling peaches they become more soft and sweeter and on the grill lines you can taste the caramelisation - great flavours paired with the salty, dry pancetta!
The melted mozzarella finishes up this dish. A calzone is not a calzone unless you get long strings of cheese with each bite.
You can make this calzone with fresh bread dough (make sure to have enough time to leave it to rise) or ready-made, store-bought bread dough. I have included a simple bread dough recipe below:
Ingredients to make the Bread Dough
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (think warm bath water)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil (use vegetable for sweet bread recipes)
2 1/2 cups flour
How to Make the Bread Dough
Mix together the warm water, yeast, oil, and sugar. Let rest for about 5 minutes until foamy. Mix the salt into the flour in a stand mixer bowl.
After the yeast has proofed, add the yeast mixture to the flour. Knead with the dough hook until a dough forms, and then continue kneading for an additional 5-6 minutes until dough is elastic and smooth.
Cover and let rise for about 10 minutes
The Roasted Dad Tip: A cheat is to buy the dough ready made from your local Pick n Pay. This is a great option if you don’t have the time (or energy) to make your own bread dough from scratch!
Ingredients to make the Peach, Pancetta and Mozzarella Calzone
1 kg bread dough (buy ready-made from Pick n Pay or use the recipe above to make your own bread dough from scratch)
500g fresh peaches
100g pancetta
150g fresh bocconcini mozzarella cheese
80g watercress (destalked)
1 tsp apple smoke liquid
1 cup sushi mayonnaise
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup of flour
How to Make the Peach, Pancetta and Mozzarella Calzone
Sprinkle some flour onto a wooden board, to prevent the dough from sticking on.
Hand roll the dough into one large ball. Divide the ball into 4 smaller ones and place these on the flour covered board. Cover the dough balls with a cotton cloth and leave them rise in a warm place.
Half the peaches and remove the pip. Slice each half into four equal slices and then grill these on high heat in a griddle pan until char marks have appeared. You shouldn’t overcook them, they are the best when kept crunchy!
Mix the smoke liquid and mayo and set aside in the fridge.
Once the dough has risen (this normally takes around an hour), flatten it out into a round pizza shape.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or low mark on the pizza oven.
Assemble the calzone by placing the ingredients on one half of the pizza dough. If you are a pizza oven, it is easiest to only add the ingredients after placing the dough on the pizza paddle, ir you are using an oven, assemble your pizza on a baking tray so that you don’t have to move it afterwards.
Start with the peaches, then pancetta slices, then fresh mozzarella and finally a healthy drizzle of the smokey mayonnaise.Fold over the other half of the dough and gently press down the edges with your finger. (You can also leave it open and make it like a pita but I prefer the sealed version)
Bake the calzone in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown then garnish with watercress leaves.
Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to see it!
This recipe first appeared on Juicy Delicious SA. You can see how I made it in the reel below:
More Italian recipes
Below the newsletter block, you will find some more Italian recipes.
I have a Kiln pizza oven, which is great for making pizzas, such as this Stone-Ground Pizza with Blistered Tomatoes, Parma Ham, Basil and Mozzarella.
If you’re looking to make your own pasta, I have shared step-by-step instructions on how to make fresh pasta. Using this same pasta dough recipe, I have prepared this Vegetarian Ravioli with Mushroom, Pecan Nut, Onion and Labneh Ravioli with Butternut and Sweet Potato Purée.
If you want to eat pasta, but not make it yourself from scratch, this Squid Ink Spaghetti with Blistered Vine Tomato, Chargrilled Asparagus on a rich Tomato and Aubergine Sauce is a winner, and made with store-bought spaghetti.
For a Florentine steak recipe, you absolutely must ask your local butcher to cut you a Bistecca all Fiorentina. One steak will be enough to feed the whole family.
This list of Italian recipes would not be complete without a risotto recipes. Often people are too nervous to make their own risotto from scratch, but if you follow these fives steps to the perfect risotto, you can’t go wrong!
About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).
Sign up to the newsletter below to be kept up to date with events, new recipes and reviews, or contact Shawn to chat about recipe creation, restaurant takeovers and public speaking events.
