Calzone Crust keeps Cracking

[carolg]

Alissa's calzone crust keeps cracking.I'm good at making cracked crackers or crumbs now and not calzones. Appears in dehydrator or in my hand. Goes into dehydrator nicely. Not too thin or thick either. Seems flimpsy and very soft. Yes, it's done when it comes out.

I just want it to hold together. Can it be ME????

Super tasty. I know how to make good crackers and crumbs, but what about calzones?????? I think I have made only one batch of successful calzones out of several attempts. Can my next one hold together? Thanks.

carolg

[Veganforlife]

Hmmmm, maybe add a tad more of the flax and water. The flax is the "glue".

[Rawkinlocs]

Only thing I can think of is that it's not thick enough. I don't know why this keeps happening for you - I just made it again this past Saturday (had another class) and my husband and I just ate the last of it last night for dinner.

Mine always holds up fine so I'm really not sure. Are you trying to pick up the whole huge "big boy" or are you slicing it up first? This last one I made most recently did have a crack in the top, but it didn't crumble up or anything...it held together - just reminded me of a really flaky crust - my class attendee said the same thing that it was really "flaky" but it didn't crumble up or fall apart.

Can you take a picture of it and upload it so we can see it? That's probably the only way we can say for sure if it looks too dried out or if it's too thin or...

[carolg]

Vegan,
Thanks for your suggestion. The "dough" is holding together when I put on the tray, but not after it seems to go through the process. This is when it all starts to fall apart.

Rawk,
Thanks for wisdom. I should have another batch going into the dehydrator either tonight or tomorrow and will see what if happening with that one. I can take picture at that point.

Stay tuned.

Carolg

[carolg]

bump, bump, bump.....
carolg

[carolg]

The new batch of calzones have hit the dehydrator. I "drained" my flax seeds (first time I did this) and hand mixed it into my batter (sprouted buckwheat/oil). Hand mixed in the carrots separately too. Had to add a pinch more water to spread out on the dehydrator. Looks like I got a fabulous consistency going at least at this first viewing. Stay tuned.

OT: Tried the Rich Cheddar Sauce using sunflower seeds that was also suggested and it taste fabulous too. I'm rolling today along well even with sunshine and warm weather. Celebrating this minute.
carolg

[carolg]

Calzone crust update:
The crusts are "very" done. Slept too long so no chance of calling them calzones, but pizza crust with the Rich Cheddar Cheese Sauce on top. Only a small part of the crust did break, but nothing to complain about as it would not be a problem if I wanted to make it a calzone. With it so dry now, I'll just have to try to schedule my dehdyrating time better so that the calzone mixture could be in dehydrator when I am sleeping vs. just waiting on the crusts to make.

The texture is still very soft. I followed the recipe to the T also so can't say it was me here.

Thanks for all "emergency" help.
carolg

[Rawkinlocs]

I would sure love to see a picture of your crusts in your calzone attempts. I feel like I just need to SEE how thick/thin you're making it with my own eyes. Is that a possibility? Pretty please?

[carolg]

Rawk,
Thank you DR. Rawk. I just took pictures for your "diagnosis." My crusts take care of all peoples needs: those with and those without teeth--even for the babies. This is how soft they are and not crunchy as we know the word to be. They will even crack in your hands too! Finally got pictures uploaded. Had previous pictures on wrong settings. How's it looking? Be back in several hours now. Thanks tons. Wish I could offer you a "pie" RAWK, but will have to save that for a visit here to CO.

carolg

[Rawkinlocs]

Okay, first let me ask you, is the crust shown in the photo the thickness you've been using for the calzone or was that intended for something else?

[Rawkinlocs]

Bumping up....

Uhhh...Carolgeeee...helloooo?

[carolg]

Hello Rawk,
Didn't see your reply till now.

The crust shown was intended for calzones. Thanks.
carolg

[Rawkinlocs]

Nowww we're gettin' to the bottom of it. Yeah Babe, that's way too thin. That's the thickness I made when I intended on making pizza crust.

I'm going to post some pics for ya to show how thin I made the calzone crust FOR pizza and then how thick Alissa made the crust for the actual calzone when I went to training in CA back in '05...

The first picture will show the crust right after Alissa flipped it over. The second shows before she flipped it over. Note how thick it is and how doughy it looks. The third photo shows the loaded calzone with all the filling ingredients layered on it. The fourth shows when she began pinching the sides to seal the edges (dough has to be thick enough to accomplish that step) as does the fifth and sixth photos and then the last photo is of the pizza crust I made (pre-dehydrated) using the same dough recipe for the calzone. The thinness of your crust looks closer to what I did to make pizza than the photos of the actual calzone. Hope this helps with your next attempt! :)

[Rawkinlocs]

photos continued (only 5 allowed per post)...continuation of Alissa pinching the sides to seal and then the crust I made using the calzone recipe but intended for pizza.

[carolg]

OMG. Thanks Rawk for coming to the rescue of my "thin" calzone crust that never would have made it past pizza stage. It helps bunches. Please leave it here for others to see. If deleting let me know so that I can copy'paste perhaps so I will have a visual before my eyes and next attempt.

A great way to end the evening before I hit the bed and dream.

Sweet dreams and thanks so much for helping me. Probably others are being helped too who are "peeking" in on my problem.

carolg

[Rawkinlocs]

You're welcome Sweetie! Glad to be of help. I knew that seeing your crust we could find out what was going on. No, I won't delete them. Nighty-nite!

[Sleek98]

I had a bad experience making the calzone, and ended up chucking the whole thing. Maybe I did the crust too thick, but I didn't think so, it looked like the picture. I don't know. But it just never got all the way done and the inside stayed doughy, and I kept it in the dehydrator for way longer than recommended. I was bummed.
If I ever try it again, I'll halve it, it's a very heavy dense meal.

[Rawkinlocs]

Sleek,

One thing I started doing ANYtime I make bread-type recipes that are thick or if they are thick AND use sprouted grains or buckwheat is to turn it up to 130-140 degrees for the first two hours and then back down after a couple of hours. This was posted here a while back as being something Excalibur recommends as well as Dr. Gabriel Cousens and they say that doing so won't jeapordize the enzymes and nutrients in the food beause the first couple of hours only the air temperature is hot, but the inside of the food does not get that hot in that timeframe. They say this is only reliable with the Excalibur, so not sure if it would hold true with other models. But doing this will keep stuff that requires longer dehydration times from fermenting and going sour.

But even when Alissa made it for us in the training, it turned out excellent and she didn't turn it up that high...she DID turn it up a little, but nowhere near that temp and it was delicious! So, try that next time and see how that works for you.

Also, make sure you rinse those buckwheat sprouts twice a day and get most of the slimy stuff off...you don't have to sprout it but a day and a half (I've gotten tails in one day after the initial soak) because I found out the hard way that buckwheat can get pretty funky on ya if it's not rinsed WELL before using for a recipe in the dehydrator...it will ferment on ya! That happened to me my first attempt of making the calzone after I got home from training.

[carolg]

Rawk,
Again thanks. Just up in the wee hours reading your notes again. I think I'm onto successful calzones because of you. I think when starting to sprout and rinse seeds, I am going to place 2 cups in one jar, 2 cups in another for ease and surely get rid of "all" slim not saying I don't. Oh, I am storing all my sprouts in my dishwasher after rinsing. Wow, they are surely growing nicely this way. Thanks again for the helpful pictures.

carolg

[Ama]

Someone posted a great little trick that has helped me TONS with buckwheat (forgot who... sorry). Soak only for 15 min - 1/2 hour then sprout for a day (rinsing a few times) I think this was posted in a book somewhere... maybe Cousins or Juliano? I don't have either one but I tried it and it worked great. No sliminess and it sprouted within one day (little tails).

[carolg]

Wow, 15 minute soaking. I love it. I wonder if the slim gets the extra starch out? Thanks for always remembering to pass on tips.

carolg

[Carmella]

Bumping this up...

Wow! I had somehow missed the follow-up to this thread.Thanks Rawk for posting your pics. I had no idea it was meant to be that thick. Cool to see though...

I make mine half that thickness (2 calzones out of the original recipe) and it's been working good for me. I now see that I am 'blessed' that way as I haven't had any trouble with it.

[Stina]

:D Panics! jumps up and runs to check first ever calzone experiment in dehydrator. Looks okay. Wait a minute, Ferments? Rawlockins? Am I going to cop a buzz off of this here calzone?!

[carolg]

Stina

Go, go!
Keep us posted. Can't wait to see how it all turns out. Tell me what you do about the soaking, etc. Hope it turns out better than mine. I know we have several pros here so you can't go wrong.

carolg

[Stina]

Just had to share with my Raw family that my first Raw calzone (the recipe from Alissa's book) was so worth the effort! God, to sink my mouth into that warm goo was just great! I went to my Sunday morning meeting and sped home and took it out of the dehydrator and ate two big pieces. I did a pretty sloppy job of following the recipe and it still turned out good.
Now here's how bad I am. I do food prep and eating in my neighbor's home since we're Raw together. There's this guy hanging around, her partner's cousin, who's always making negative comments about the Raw food I'm prepping. YOu know, the usual, "looks like baby poop to me!" crap. He's got pancreatic cancer. Wants a piece of my calzone...... he's in there eating Doritoes......I'm not interested in my labor-intensive delicious Raw recipe being insulted.....can Stina rise above personality conflict?.......hhmmm,.....the saga continues

[Stina]

He had a piece. He said it was okay but why call it a calzone. He microwaved it.

[TRiNiTy2018]

I have seen MANY wonderful pictures of calzones and pizzas made with calzone "crusts" but I haven't seen any recipes for the crust...
where could I find a recipe for the calzone crust??

[Stina]

It's in Alissa's book. I know we're not supposed to post recipes out of it since it's for sale. do you have the book? I've heard there's another website with extensive Raw recipes on it. Anyone know?
And I just want to doubly confirm this recipe is so worth the effort. I'm sitting here eating leftovers doused with Tobasco sauce and pleased as punch with myself.

[CaliRaw]

Using the recipe from the book, is the crust/bread about 1/2" thick and will it make one calzone or two? I thought ONE, but some people posted on other threads that they made TWO.