Making My First Stromboli

What is a stromboli? According to the Wikipedia Gods, "Stromboli is a type of turnover filled with various cheeses and cold cuts or vegetables. The dough used is either Italian bread dough or pizza dough. Stromboli was invented in the United States in the 1950s."

The restaurant closed probably about 10 years ago, but my craving for pizza dough with ham, Canadian bacon, shredded cheese, bell pepper, and onion has never waned. Last night, I'd had enough. PMS was hitting hard and I just HAD to have a ham and cheese stromboli, so I made my own!

First I waited an hour and a half for my bread machine (I'm spoiled) to make my dough. I hate that it takes so long, but the dough is delicious. After I got my dough, I rolled it as flat and as round as I could get it.

Next I put two to three layers of deli ham. I don't recommend using honey ham for this. That's what I did and it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. It's a bit too sweet. Next time I'll be sure to use regular super-thin sliced ham.

I also put on a layer of bell pepper (I grow both green and orange) and onions. Next was a layer of cheddar cheese and a layer of mozzarella cheese.

I folded the dough in half, sealed it around the edges, brushed on some garlic butter, and popped it into a 450 degree F oven.

20 minutes later and it was done! I cut it into pieces and fed it to my biggest critics, the minions.

They liked it!!! My son, the oldest, is the only one who can really remember Pizza Inn and my version met with his approval. The youngest ate more than she usually does, and when my middle got back from Wednesday night church, she almost cried about missing the taste-testing!

This is all that was left after we finished stuffing ourselves. It was really good and definitely deserves a repeat performance after the husband gets back from his Red Cross deployment.

Thanks for looking and stay tuned!