Soggy Italian calzones
Why are my calzones always wet after I cut them? If I let them cool, the bottom is wet. Other then runny or soggy they're so good.
Best Answer
Possible causes of soggy calzones and their fixes.
The oven is too hot. It seems counter-intuitive, but this browns the crust to golden perfection before the internal temp of the stuffing reaches an ideal point. It won't get hot enough for long enough to steam out the sauce and ingredients. Cook at a lower temp for longer and broil to perfection if needed.
The ingredients have too much water. If you're tossing a ton of onion, mushrooms, green pepper, tomatoes, etc into the diaper, you'll have to adjust your cooking parameters compared to drier protein stuffings. You might want to saute the ingredients before incorporation to give them a head start on temp and water loss.
The sauce is too runny or under-cooked at the start. Make sure to use a thicker sauce, even than with pizza. Pan-heating commercial sauce before baking will help. You can even turn spaghetti sauce into calzone sauce if you simmer it long enough.
The crust is too greasy. While it tastes and looks great, if the crust is too greasy, it can seal in steam instead of allowing it to permeate and escape. While eventually the moisture will find a way out with swelling/bubbling and "geysering", a lot of water vapor will condense on the non-leaky spots and drip to the bottom; think about the sweaty lid of a rice cooker. You can also simply add vent slits in the crust (like buttery pie crusts often sport) if you have otherwise-good results with your current recipe.
Generic methods of reducing moisture include baking/resting on a rack instead of a plate/pan, opening sooner after cooking to allow poofs of steam to escape before it becomes liquid (many restaurants serve them split in half), and resting them upside down to hide some of the juice in the thicker less-soaked top crust.
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Why is my calzone soggy?
The oven is too hot. It seems counter-intuitive, but this browns the crust to golden perfection before the internal temp of the stuffing reaches an ideal point. It won't get hot enough for long enough to steam out the sauce and ingredients. Cook at a lower temp for longer and broil to perfection if needed.How do you prevent a soggy calzone?
Don't pull it tight. Don't forget to cut steam vents in the top of each calzone. This prevents the dough from getting soggy, but it also releases the steam that builds up inside the pocket and causes the seam to burst.How do you fix soggy pizza?
To save your soggy pizza, you need to get rid of excess moisture by baking the pizza longer. So if your pizza is too soggy, palace it back in the oven and let it bake for a few more minutes. If you use a pizza stone or steel, you can let this reheat for 10-15 minutes before you place the pizza back in the oven.How do you make a stromboli not soggy?
How do you keep a stromboli from getting soggy? Stromboli can end up soggy as it has heavy stuffing inside. So avoid making it soggy, you can spread an even layer of cheese with a thin layer of topping. Just have to make sure we don't overcrowd the stuffing.Real Italian Calzones | Calzone Recipes | Allrecipes.com
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Answer 2
As one additional point, both I and CooksIllustrated suggest (paywall, sorry) cutting vents in the top of the calzone in order to allow steam to escape. I've personally found that it's difficult to avoid sogginess without slots.
Depending on the size of the calzone, you'll want 2-4 cuts, each 2-4cm long.
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