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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Stromboli ...or bread stuffed and erupting with deliciousness!

Did you know that Stromboli was named after the volcanic island located off the coast of Sicily by the same name?  So named because of the way the cheese and fillings erupt from the holes pierced in the rolled Focaccia dough, that you pierce before baking.  I think this is beyond-words-delicious while it's still warm from the oven...but it wasn't too shabby at room temperature, either. 

Stromboli
adapted from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno

Ingredients:
2 tsp. dry yeast
1 ¼ c. water
3 ½ c. unbleached flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
3 Tbs. olive oil

For the filling and topping:
8 oz. smoked swiss cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. Prosciutto, sliced thin
4 oz. pepperoni, sliced thin
Handful of fresh basil leaves
~1 tsp. coarse salt
3 sprigs rosemary, stems removed
~1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Sprinkle yeast into 1 c. of the water, in small bowl.  Leave for 5 minutes to then stir to dissolve. 

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in center and pour in dissolved yeast and the oil.  Mix in flour from sides of well.  Stir in reserved water, as needed, to form a soft, sticky dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth, silky, and elastic...~10 mins.

Pour dough in a clean, oiled bowl and cover with clean kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2-2 hours.  Punch down and chafe* for 5 minutes.  Let rest 10 minutes. 

Shape into a 14" x 8" rectangle.  Cover w/ clean towel and let rest another 10 minutes.

Spread your cheeses, meats, garlic and basil evenly over dough.  Roll up the dough like a swiss roll, starting at one of the shorter sides, but without rolling too tightly.  Place on oiled baking sheet.  Use a skewer or a carving fork to pierce several holes through the dough to the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with 1 Tbs. of olive oil, salt, rosemary and pepper.
Pretty, huh?
Bake in preheated (400 degrees F) oven for 1 hour, until golden.
Drizzle remaining olive oil over top.  Slice and serve!!
I was pretty proud of myself on this endeavor!!  I wasn't even challenged, assigned, or urged to make stromboli by anything but my own appetite and an ongoing desire to stay in good standing with my new friend yeast.  Oh yeah...this was soooo killer.  Good thing I had help eating it, cuz it was so good I didn't want to stop.  I just kept slicing myself off another helping.
*chafe- forming the dough into a ball by gently cupping your hands around it and applying light downward pressure to the sides, while rotating the dough continuously in a clockwise motion.  Continue until dough is formed into an even round shape.


This Stromboli has been YEASTSPOTTED!
It is also my entry into Bread Baking Day #32: Italian Breads hosted this month at Family & Food & Other Things.
BBD32BYOB



Would you like to comment?

  1. I think I can taste it from here..! My stomach was already growling.. now it's barking ;/

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  2. I can't even begin to tell you just how amazing that looks! There's a place we go to every now and then called "Old Chicago" and I always get the stromboli, but yours looks like it would top theirs for sure :)

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  3. Oh man! That looks perfect! My family would love this. Bookmarked! :)

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  4. We are big stromboli fan at our house. Yours does look killer! Yum!Didn't know where it got it's name though! My daughter requests it often. I like to make it because I give her a chunk of dough and she can fill her own the way she likes it. I love it cold in my lunch the next day too!

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  5. Gorgeous! I never knew the origin of the name too.

    Oh for a piece just pulled out of the oven... ;-)

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  6. Your bread baking skills have definitely gone into another dimension! Beautiful!

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  7. oh wow this looks heavenly so so good

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  8. Oh my, this looks delicious. What a great summer bread to serve with salads, perfect for hot weather too. I'm looking forward to making this.

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  9. This is one of my favourite, you have done it perfectly.

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  10. Never had one until I came to New Jersey- nice and hot out of the oven goodness!

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  11. Very interesting fact. I did not know that. This looks absolutely fantastic Girlchef. I mean, off the hook good! I don't eat red meat or pork, but I'd imagine sliced turkey or chicekn might work. What do you think?

    Thanks for such an awesome recipe!

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  12. Come to mama, little Stromboli ;-)
    Looks delicious Heather!

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  13. This looks so delicious...I had this for the first time recently and I fell in love...Some friends "transplants from Pennsylvania" had me over...and they cooked this...I had never even heard of it before...guess it is a northern thing.

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  14. Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Perfect for weekend lunches!
    ~ingrid

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  15. this sinches it--i am making some this weekend.

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  16. That last picture right before the collage has me drooling :-P'''

    Oh my goodness this looks fantastic. I don't blame you for eating slice after slice.

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  17. OMG! I have this book but your version of this is so much better! How perfect it looks and I so love the stuffing. I am trying this one!

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  18. Yummy! I'll take one please :)

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  19. My, Heather that looks so good! I love bread pretty much any way you serve it and this definitely is a must for my recipe file! :)

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  20. For some reason your site loaded very slowly for me so it was excruciating waiting for each mouthwatering, gorgeous picture to load in. It was worth the wait!!

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  21. I love food trivia like that. I always think I can whip it out of my pocket at parties, but I usually mess it up, like I do with punchlines ... "Hey, did you know that stromboli have something to do with volcanoes, 'cause of, like, you know, the cheese?" ... blank stares.

    Mmm, cheese, looks divine!

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  22. holy mama this looks amazing, I would love this for lunch, dinner, hell even breakfast..

    sweetlife

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  23. Holy Stromboli!!! That looks incredible! My stomach is gurgling like crazy.... YUM!

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  24. Excellent! i can almost smell it! Wonderful pictures!

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  25. Wow, bravo! The stromboli looks amazing! I have tried making stromboli once but mine looked a little different from yours. I love how yours is rolled. Yumm!

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  26. Oh my, I haven't had good stromboli in SO LONG! This looks heavenly!

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  27. Yum, yum! I have to try this one soon. We've made calzone before, though never stromboli. Love your filling. Beautiful!
    Thanks.

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  28. Wow that looks good! I didn't know that about how stromboli got its name, I learned something today.

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  29. OMG, this looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for baking with me for BBD #32.

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  30. That stuffed bread is astounding I absolutely love the photos and the recipe sounds simple also. I think this would make a great picnic food also. Well done, I also did BBD#32 also. Cheers from Audax Australia.

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  31. Thanks a ton for this one Heather. Truly this is a new all time favorite.

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  32. It is my pleasure...I'm so glad that your enjoy it. Thank you for inspiring me to make it again =)

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  33. Thank you. This is delicious, Heather!

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  34. I would like to use this recipe to make a calzone.

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