And thus, Turkey Sausage, Spinach, and Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Italian Bread was born. Now, I don't eat many meat products, mostly chicken, turkey, and venison. So prociutto was out. Although I think that what he had on his plate would all be amazing in this dish, I modified it for my tastes.
This was graded a nutrition value of B, probably because of the fat content from the turkey sausage and the cheese. But, this makes 4 servings and each one only comes in at 286 calories -- and this was a very filling dish. Just by removing the turkey sausage element, this comes in at a mere 195 calories per serving. Other nutritional information for the dish as it was made include 13.1g fat (5g saturated fat), 33mg cholesterol, 769mg sodium, 2g dietary fiber, 2.7g sugars, 14.4g protein, 21% vitamin A, 9% vitamin C, 16% calcium, and 14% iron.

The great thing about this was that I was able to make the dough in advance, and then the actual prep and assembly and baking the day of was pretty quick. I also loooove this dough I designed. So, the night before, proof 1 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast in 1/2 cup warm water with 1/2 TBS honey (wait five minutes and make sure the yeast is makin' lil bubbles. In a separate bowl, mix 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup whole what flour , 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour, 1/8 cup spelt flour, and 1/8 cup of millet flour. Then add 2 tsp gluten and mix with a wooden spoon for five minutes. At this point, the dough should be very flexible and a little sticky still. Let stand for 10 minutes, then add a heaping TBS of whole wheat flour (this may vary based on humidity and other weather conditions that change how much flour your dough absorbs) and a 1/2 tsp more of gluten. Knead with the wooden spoon for another couple minutes, then grease the dough ball (I use a pressurized oil sprayer and spray my bowl, then roll the dough in it) with EVOO. Then, throw it in the fridge covered with a damp towel. Go to bed and sleep.
Wake up. In the morning mad dash out the door for work, remember to take your dough out, punch it down while still in the bowl, and then rewet the towel covering it because the fridge dries the dough out a little. Put it back in the fridge and go to work. This slow double rise gives the dough a deeper flavor and lets the yeast do its thang.
When you get home from work, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees with your baking stone (if you've got one, a baking sheet will work just fine) inside. Take the dough out, and turn it out on parchment paper with lots of cornmeal on it -- I used probably half a cup of cornmeal. The reason why is that the part of the dough that is touching the bowl is quite a bit more moist than the dough on top. This is also a very flexible dough and it works best as a flexible dough, so I didn't want to add any extra flour to make it too dry and hard to work. The great thing about cornmeal is that it just sticks to the bottom, it doesn't really "integrate" into the dough. Its prolly why so many pizza places and bagel places use it. Sidebar. Anyway, throw a little cornmeal on top and roll out as best you can into a rectangle. I ended up using my fingers a little to stretch this out and shape it since the dough is so flexible.
Then, let it rest again and come to room temp while you make the filling. I cooked one spicy italian turkey sausage purchased at the Whole Foods meat counter, 1 large clove of garlic roughly chopped, 1 cup of frozen spinach, about 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes diced, red pepper flakes to taste and sauteed them all together until the liquid was gone. I added no extra oil since the turkey sausage has just enough to keep everything from sticking. I also grated some part-skim mozzarella and some fresh parmesan (which eliminates the need for salt since it is a salty cheese).

Then, I let it cool for a couple minutes while I sprinkled the mixture of mozzarella and fresh parmesan on the dough, leaving a one-inch border. Dump the filling on top and spread. Top with fresh basil and flat-leaf italian parsley.

The tricky part is rolling this thing up. Start at whatever end is smaller -- you know, its impossible to make a perfectly rectangular dough, so whichever end is more tapered is where you start rolling. Pick up the edge carefully, stretch it a little and bring it over the filling. Then stretch the dough from the two sides over the filling towards the center. Use your palms to support the weight of the filling as you roll, making sure to stretch the dough from the two sides in to the center as you go along. Once you get to the very end, wet the edge and mush it in. Put the seam side DOWN on the parchment paper. Then let it rest again for another 5-10 minutes before brushing it with garlic infused olive oil.
Pick up the parchment paper on each side and put it in the oven on the baking stone and bake for about 25-30 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Mine took about 30 minutes, but I think it depends on what you stuff it with. Let it cool on a rack for about 20-30 minutes.

Then dig in -- this makes about four servings.
This was sheer bliss when eating it, it stayed together while I was eating it, too, so it wasn't one of those stuffed things that explodes all over your plate. The only thing I might change for next time is the kind of cheese I used -- I think this would be great with fresh mozzarella or ricotta. You could also do other traditional calzone fillings. I love this because you get lovely bread swirling in the middle of the fillings. I will definately make this one again.

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