Stromboli

After my daughter was born, my Sunday School class brought us meals for two weeks.  One of my friends, Sherah-Leigh, brought us Stromboli.  It was so delicious.  So much so that I wrote a poem about Stromboli.

Ode To Stromboli

Stromboli, Stromboli, How I love thee Stromboli

Even though you make me Roley-Poly...

Ok, I didn't really write a poem about Stromboli, because that would just be weird.  And even though I would tend to agree that I'm a little weird, I don't think you need to know that.

Back to the food.  I immediately asked Sherah-Leigh for her recipe and I have been making it (often) ever since.  I have put my own little twist on it. 

Here's what you will need:

2 1/2 C. flour
1 C. warm water
1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast
1 T. sugar
1 T. oil
1 tsp. salt
Cooking Spray
Ricotta Cheese *  (See below)
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce
Your Favorite Pizza Toppings
Garlic Powder (optional)
Dried Oregano (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Here's how you make it.

1.  Combine the first six ingredients until you get something that looks like this.

2.  At this point, use your hands to form the dough into a ball.  Then knead the dough for a few minutes.  I knead the dough right in the bowl, because I'm lazy and don't want to have to flour my counter top and then clean it up afterwards.

3.  After a few minutes, form the dough into a ball.

4.  I spray the dough ball with olive oil cooking spray and then cover with a wet paper towel to keep the dough moist while it rises.  (I sometimes make my dough the night before and allow it to rise over night in the refrigerator.  If I do this, then I cover the bowl with plastic wrap.)  Allow to rise for at least 30 minutes.

5.  Spray a pan with cooking spray.  Then roll the dough into a rectangle.

6.  Spread pizza sauce over half of the dough.  Then top with ricotta cheese.  I just use my fingers to spread out little dollops of cheese over the sauce.  (I have tried putting the ricotta on first and using a spoon to spread it out evenly over the dough.  It just doesn't have the same effect, though I can't explain why.)

Then top with mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza toppings.

7.  Fold the bare half of the dough over top of the half with toppings on it.

8.  Pinch edges of the dough to seal the Stromboli.  (You could fold it over and make it look pretty too if you like.)

9.  Now this is what Sherah-Leigh served us.  And it was delicious.  You could certainly stop here if you wanted to.  But being adventurous as I am, I wanted to take it to another level.  So here's what I do next.  Sprinkle the top of the Stromboli with garlic powder, dried oregano, and Parmesan cheese.  It just adds another layer of delicious flavor.

10.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

11.  Enjoy!

View Printable Recipe

This is a great recipe to have the kids help with.  My son loves helping roll out the dough and put the toppings on it.

If you haven't found a pizza sauce that you are totally over the moon about, you should try Boboli.  I didn't like any store bought pizza sauces until I bought this one (and trust me, I tried a lot of them).  One nice thing is that the sauce comes in little packets (sold as a box of three of them) and one packet is the perfect amount of sauce for this recipe.  Oh, and Orlando garlic bread sticks are delicious with this!  (Just saying).

FYI - I am only endorsing the products above because I personally love them, not because I am being paid to.  Neither of these companies have ever heard of me nor would they care if I fell of the face of the Earth tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Roley-Poly Stromboli girl

* If you are calorie conscience, try Fat Free Ricotta.  I have tried Whole Milk Ricotta, Part Skim Ricotta, and Fat Free Ricotta.  Honestly, you can't tell the difference between any of them in this, so I opt for the Fat Free stuff.