Meat & Cheese, All Rolled Up

yyyuuummmmm, Stromboli

My brother is the Pizza King, and I'm sure as the weather warms up we'll have lots of mouth-watering pizza posts from his wood-fire oven, but this is my homemade pizza go-to...  Stromboli.  Salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage and a mix of cheese all rolled up in crusty goodness.  If you are scared of yeast, I really recommend starting with a pizza dough.  It's super easy and you probably won't screw it up.

 Really.

Yes, you may have to buy a thermometer, but that's cheap and right there in the kitchen gadget grocery store aisle.   The make or break yeast rule is temperature- the liquid (in this case water & sugar) needs to be lukewarm, somewhere around 110 degrees.  I usually microwave the liquid 20-30 seconds and then wait for it to cool down. The only other baking-with-yeast rule I try to remember is 'quit while you're ahead'.   Don't add too much flour, don't over work it, don't over think it.

My stromboli was layered with salami, pepperoni, sausage, pizza cheese, cheddar cheese, and some shaved Parmesan.  The kicker ingredient is a little caramelized onion & roasted garlic- a little goes a long way; I made 2 loaves with one onion & one head of garlic.  Of course, you can DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO.  It's pizza, go for it!

20 seconds in the mircowave

You can find lots of 'how to make stromboli' recipes & videos on the web.  I will offer this quick tip though- microwave your pepperoni for a very few seconds (too long & it looks like dog food).  This removes some of the excess grease (see, look  ---- ewwww!)



This is a recipe I got from a Dierbergs cooking class I took years ago. I can make one recipe of this dough & get a small sized cheese pizza & a stromboli out of it.

Basic Pizza Dough

1/2 cup warm water (between 105-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Dissolve sugar in water.  Stir in yeast & let stand for about 5 minutes until it begins to foam.











In large bowl, add:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt

This is a good time to add some seasonings to your dough.  Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, garlic, Parmesan or Asiago cheese - whatever you want.  Make a well (that's a hole) in the middle of the flour and pour in yeast mixture.

Add:
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature

If you want to add any liquid flavorings (like, a buffalo chicken pizza  might need a dash of hot sauce in the dough), add that with the milk & oil.

Stir until dough forms.  I use my Kitchen Aid with dough hook, but you can do this by hand, and I think you can do it in your food processor, too.  Turn dough out onto a counter top/bread board/large cutting board with about 1/2 cup flour spread on it.  Knead it by hand just a few times, using enough flour to make it manageable but still a little bit sticky.  Cover with towel & let rest for about 10  minutes before shaping dough.

Make it into pizza, bread sticks, a calzone, stromboli...