Something Savoury: Cheddar and Chorizo "Calzone" Pockets (Wheat Free)

Buon giorno, everyone! As you can see, this is a little different to what I usually do on this blog: this is not a sweet, but a savoury baked snack. I felt like doing something a little different for a change, and I've decided that sometimes I will be sharing some of my savoury snack and meal ideas with my readers here at Sweetie Pie Bakes stuff.

Sometimes blogging can get stale, and I thought it was time to freshen things up! But also, I need to mind what I eat a bit more because my skin keeps breaking out so I'll be avoiding sugary things. Not cutting them out completely, not at all! Just reducing.

For those of you that don't know what a calzone is, it's basically a pizza folded in half to make a pocket. This however doesn't use traditional Italian pizza dough, which is basically like bread, but instead I use hot water pastry, which is more familiar to the people of my parents' native land, England.

Hot water pastry is used in making pork pies and sometimes also for Cornish pasties: it's flaky but dense, and very rich. Traditionally, lard is used, but I use butter because it's tastier and not as artery clogging. Meat dripping would also work well, or margarine for the vegetarian dairy-free types.

The consistency of hot water pastry is very like play dough, so it's very easy to work with.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts


CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (oats and spelt)
☒ Dairy (you can use margarine instead of butter)
☒ Eggs

 INGREDIMENTS
For 5 pockets

For hot water pastry:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter or margarine
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) water
• 1 medium egg
• Pinch of salt
• Milk, for brushing

For the filling:

• 5 slices of chorizo or salami
• About 3 ounces (55 grammes) grated mature Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) tomato purée
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: ground smoked paprika, or cayenne pepper

HOW-TO

• To make the pastry, heat the butter and water in a saucepan together over high heat and bring to the boil.
• Once boiling, remove from the heat and pour in the flour in one go. Mix until it becomes a dough. Leave to cool slightly for about 2 or 3 minutes.
• Add the egg and salt and beat to a thick paste. Cover with cling film, directly touching the surface of the pastry, and chill in the fridge until cold, about 30 to 45 minutes.
• Preheat your oven to 200°C (4000°F, Gas Mk.6, or hot) and lightly grease a baking sheet.
• Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute to bring it all together and make it smooth. Divide the dough into five equal portions.
• Take each portion and roll it into a square, just under a quarter inch (5 millimetres) in thickness.
• Spread a fifth of the tomato purée onto the square, leaving a half-inch (1 centimetre) border around the edge. Place a chorizo or salami slice in the middle, top with a fifth of the grated cheese, then season with a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and a little shake of ground paprika or cayenne pepper, if using.
• Fold the square over across the diagonal to make a triangle, then firmly crimp the edges with a fork. Trim off the excess pastry if you like to make it neater. Place it on the baking sheet.
• Make the rest of the pockets in the same way, placing them all on the baking sheet. Brush each pocket with milk and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
• Serve hot from the oven or at room temperature. Do not reheat each pocket more than once.

The above filling is just a suggestion, but you could put anything in these: pork sausage meat with thinly sliced apple, left over chili con carne, chicken tikka, the world is your oyster!

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: The Search for Perfect Homemade Ice-Cream without a Machine