Culinary Disasters

What separates a stromboli from a calzone?  According to Wikipedia and a couple other google searches a calzone is baked with a marina sauce inside and is formed into a half moon shape.  A stromboli the marina is served on the side (I prefer to use BBQ sauce spiked with some Frank’s Red Hot) and rolled into a loaf shape. 

I can’t find any saying stromboli originated in XYZ.  A couple sources say the stromboli was created in Essington, PA in the 1950s by Nazzareno Romano.  It was named after the movie starring Ingrid Bergman called Stromboli.  Another source says the stromboli originated on the island of Stromboli, Italy. 

The joy of a stromboli is you can make it taste exactly how you want and basically whatever you like on pizza you are going to loved rolled around the crispy dough. 

The first part of this dish is going to be making the pizza dough.  If you have a favorite dough use that and skip this section.  If you have suggestions or improvements for my dough (remember not a baker) feel free to pass them along.  I used my trusty KitchenAid mixer but you could easily do this by hand just going to take a little bit longer and more effort on your part.

For the dough you are going to need:

• 1 cup of warm water (about 105-110 degrees)
• 1 TB or 1 package of yeast
• 2-3 cups of flour
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar
• Extra virgin olive oil

Add the yeast to the cup of warm water in the mixing bowl.  Wait about 5 minutes or till the yeast is bubbly.

Once the yeast is bubbly add in a TB of the oil, pinch of salt, and pinch of sugar.

Attach the dough hook and turn the mixer to speed 2.  Add in the flour in 1/2 cup increments until the dough is clinging to the dough hook and the sides are clean (It took about 2.5 cups for me).  When the dough is clinging to the hook shut off the mixer.  Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover.  Let it rest for an hour to an hour and a half.  It should double in size.

While the dough is resting we can turn our attention to part two of stromboli which is preparing the filling.

For me I opted to use:

• 1/4 lb of applewood smoked bacon cut into 1 inch sections.
• 1 lb of bulk ground sausage (unseasoned)
• 1 red pepper roasted and cut into strips.  If you need to know how to roast a red pepper click here and scroll down.
• 1 onion medium dice
• 8 ounces of mushrooms (I pulsed them in a food processor to get them about the same size as the onion dice)
• 3 cloves of garlic finely diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers finely diced
• 1/2 cup of chopped green olives
• 1/4 cup of chopped black olives
• 3 cups of meltable cheese (I used 2 cups of fontina and then 1 cup of a cheddar bacon)
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tb of water
• 1/2 cup of parmigiano reggiano cheese
• all-purpose flour or cornmeal

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Over medium heat in your trusty cast iron skillet add in the bacon and cook till crispy. 

Once the bacon is cooked remove and add in the sausage with a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook till browned and strain.

Add in the onion and jalapeno with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook till softened (about 5 minutes).

Add in the mushrooms and cook till softened (about 5 minutes).  Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.

Combine all your ingredients excluding the parmigiano reggiano cheese in a large mixing bowl (bacon, sausage, onion mixture, olives, diced red pepper, cheeses, etc) and stir to combine well.

Lightly the flour the bottom of your favorite pan or pizza stone with either cornmeal or all-purpose flour (I love using cornmeal for this).  After your dough has doubled punch it down and it will deflate.  Roll it out on the pan or pizza stone till it is about 1/2 inch all around. 

Dump the stuffing mixture onto the dough and spread around.

Fold it up and if you can without breaking the dough gently roll it around so the seams are on the bottom (makes for a cleaner presentation). Brush the mixture with the egg and water combo.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes remove the stromboli and sprinkle the 1/2 cup of parmigiano reggiano cheese over top.  Return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

I served a couple slices of stromboli with my favorite potato chips, Zapp’s Cajun Crawtator.

Tags: pork, All //