I first learned to make this bad boy at a little neighborhood pizza joint in Minneapolis called Casalenda’s. It was one of those things that was not on the menu, but if you were knew what to ask for, you just might get one. It makes for a great appetizer when sliced thin or a fantastic sandwich when cut into larger pieces. You can use any variation of meats and cheeses that you like. I like to serve a tomato-based sauce on the side like our Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough, See recipe here (I used half of this dough recipe)
• 1 egg, for egg wash
• Cheese – I am using Buffalo Mozzarella, Parmesan and Cheddar Cheese .
• Thin sliced meats – I am using Pancetta, Salami, Ham and Coppa.
• Butter
• Garlic Powder
• Poppy Seeds

Roll the dough out flat in the shape of a large rectangle. Brush with a thin layer of melted butter and lightly sprinkle the garlic powder on it. Lay the meats and cheeses over the entire dough in one thin layer. In the picture below, I will be rolling from left to right so I kept the cheeses mostly to the left so they will be in the center; this helps prevent the cheese from spewing out in the middle of baking.

Gently roll the dough up and tuck in each side underneath itself.

Place the Stromboli on a baking sheet seam side down. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle poppy seeds on it. Cut a few slits across it and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Being married to a former pizza place cook isn’t easy…my husband is a pizza snob. Needless to say, we have tried just about all of the pizza places here and none have met Andy’s approval. We started to buy frozen dough from a really good bread store in order to make our own pizza (then we could blame ourselves if it wasn’t good). However, the store is not in town, and I don’t get up that way too often, so it became an inconvenience. One day I picked up the book The Bread Bible and in it, among the 600+ pages, was a recipe for homemade pizza dough. I made the recipe (only a single serving), and it was good, and over time have just added one ingredient (olive oil) and quadrupled the recipe (we use half and freeze the rest). This really couldn’t be easier, and, if you are like us, you won’t want to buy frozen or delivery pizza ever again – this tastes better and is a lot less expensive!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups plus 4 tablespoons Unbleached Flour
• 2 teaspoons Sugar
• 1 package Active Dry Yeast
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 1/3 cups lukewarm Water
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil

Combine the flour, sugar and yeast and stir. Add the salt right before you are ready to add the water, as salt can kill the yeast. Make a well, and pour the water and one tablespoon olive oil into the well.

Stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are fully incorporated together (I start with the wooden spoon and then use my hands). Form into a ball and put the other tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of the bowl. Rub the oil on the entire ball of dough, place back into bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

If you are using the dough within four hours, let sit out to rise. Otherwise, put it into the refrigerator. Once you are ready to use it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, separate the dough that you need, and work the dough back into another ball and let it sit covered for 15 minutes to allow it to rise again.

Liberally flour work surface and roll out dough into desired shape/thickness. Add sauce and toppings, bake and enjoy!