Calzones {with artisan bread}

I love having prepared bread dough in the fridge, because it makes it feasible for me to make myself a delicious gourmet lunch when I tire of eating whatever my kids are having (much as I love PB&J, hot dogs, and cheese quesadillas . . . I occasionally yearn for something more). 

My new love is calzones.  Once you make them, it's so easy to feel confident about experimenting with different herbs, vegetables, and cheeses in the filling.  I especially like to put a layer of very-thinly-sliced tomatoes on top of the filling before I pinch the calzone shut.

Sauteing the garlic and spinach for the filling is what takes
the longest . . . it took me about four whopping minutes.

Because I am not going to spend more than  half hour on lunch (not even that long, usually), using this refrigerated artisan bread dough is the way to go.  These take me about 10 minutes prep-time, and then only a tummy-rumbling half hour of baking and cooling time till they are ready to eat.
 

Just because something is cheesy and delicious doesn't mean it's unhealthy.  Ricotta is actually made from whey, which is a low-fat by-product of cheese.  Spinach, garlic, fresh herbs, and tomatoes . . . all good for you.  As long as I don't inhale both calzones by myself (I can usually only eat half of one--they are so filling!), I'm having a great made-from-scratch lunch that is healthy, satisfying, and delicious.

Artisan Bread: boule (basic dough recipe)

If you only buy one cookbook this year, buy this one.

You can read about this very recipe and more on the authors' website.  I borrowed my dad's copy of the book, and need to buy my own before his gets completely covered in sticky dough spots on my favorite pages. . .

But, you lucky blogstalkers, you, I am slowly but surely making the recipes from this book into recipe cards, for the selfsame reason of floury pages: recipe cards are cleaner and more accessible.

I usually make baguettes or ciabatta with this recipe.  And after you use all of your refrigerated dough (it usually makes enough four loaves), you don't clean out the container--just mix another batch of dough and dump it in to cultivate some wee yeastie beasties . . . the bread gets more and more of an authentic sourdough taste.

You'll understand the history, process, and chemistry of baking artisan bread if you read the book, and I do think that reading about all of these things gives you an edge in baking the breads that the authors describe--plus there are pictures.  But in the mean time, here is the recipe card for one of the "master recipes."  This is the simplest one, and the one I use the most, along with the flatbread and olive oil dough recipe.