As someone from Palermo, I can’t help but love the rotisserie as it’s always been a part of my culinary culture. Street food is available in practically every bar in the city, along with many other varieties of fried and baked rotisserie items.
The fried calzones can be enjoyed at any time of the day, even for breakfast, delighting the palate of both young and old alike. In this traditional version, I used brioche dough through which you can prepare a myriad of things and for the filling, cooked ham and fiordilatte mozzarella. Finally, they are fried in boiling oil for a few minutes and eaten in quantity.
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 3 Hours
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 0.88 oz fresh yeast
- 0.25 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3.5 tbsp lard
- 2 tsp salt
- 9 oz cooked ham
- 1 block of fiordilatte mozzarella
- 4 cups seed oil
Tools
- Mixer
Steps
To make the Palermo-style fried calzones
First, place the flour, water, yeast, sugar, lard, and salt into a planetary mixer or a Bimby, and then knead for 4 minutes (if using a Bimby, set it to knead mode)
Transfer the dough to a work surface and form balls weighing 1.75/2 oz each, then let them rest for about 20 minutes, covered with a cloth
After the resting time, take the balls one at a time, flatten them first with your fingertips, and then use a rolling pin to form a disk shape
Next, wrap a slice of cooked ham around a rectangular slice of fiordilatte mozzarella, forming a single block
At this point, place the block in the center of the dough disk and close it into a half-moon, sealing all the edges of the calzone well
Similarly, proceed to form all the calzones until all the ingredients are used, taking care to place them on a tray lined with parchment paper. At this point, let them rise for about 1 hour and 30 minutes inside an oven with only the light on to generate some warmth
After the rising time, to complete, heat the seed oil in a saucepan until it reaches a temperature of about 356°F and deep-fry the calzones for about 5 minutes on both sides
Finally, place the fried calzones on absorbent paper and wait about 5 minutes before consuming them
Tip!
If you have some dough balls leftover, you can always place them in the freezer before rising and reuse them later once thawed.

