Stromboli...with a Halloween Twist

Pizza is among one of my favorite foods. But there are times when I like to branch out and try different kinds of pizza. (Deep Dish Chicago pizza is still one of my favorites, but I'll take a good BBQ chicken pizza any day) It was a cooler here the other day so I thought we'd make our own, but with a twist. So I decided to make Stromboli. (Every time I hear that word it reminds me of Pinocchio). Stromboli is pizza dough with the pizza ingredients rolled up inside. And yes, it's as good as it looks. Trust me. And no, my nose isn't getting longer either ;)

Posted by Jen.   

The normal version: 
and the Halloween twist:  

Click here for printable recipe. 

The  Ingredients:
DOUGH:  (or just use 1-2 packages of pizza dough in a tube or whatever pizza crust you like)
1 c water
1 Tbsp yeast (or 2 pkgs)
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp oil (I like to use olive oil)
3 c flour
1 tsp salt


FILLING:

Your favorite pizza toppings:  Mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sausage*, mushrooms, etc. 
Pizza sauce (for dipping)

*NOTE:  it's easiest to roll the stromboli if you choose to use somewhat flat or thinly sliced ingredients


DOUGH DIRECTIONS (skip to the last paragraph if using prepared pizza crust dough) 

Make the dough. I cheated and used my bread machine. Add the liquid ingredients first. Then add the dry ingredients. (as you can see here I decided to add some Italian Seasoning as well). Set machine to dough cycle.
If you don't have a machine, then make it as you would your regular bread by using a Kitchen-Aid and kneading the dough to a smooth ball. Let rise until doubled. (Sorry I can't give you more detailed instructions than that. I'm not very good as making bread dough from scratch which is why I've invested in a Kitchen-Aid and now a bread machine.)

After the dough has risen, or the machine has finished its cycle, OR if you already have prepared pizza dough, then roll it out into a rectangle (about 15x10), or the size of making sweet rolls. The batch of dough I made allowed me to make two different rolls of pizza.Roll out thin, about 1/4 inch, then add your ingredients.

FILLING DIRECTIONS: 
You can add whatever you normally would add to pizza. I did notice that on the majority of Stromboli recipes out there, that people do not use pizza sauce in the pizza, rather as a dipping sauce afterwards. It's up to you. I made one just sauce and cheese (for the kids) and the other with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and cheese.

Just cheese:
Leave about an inch border along 3 sides. Roll up like you would sweet rolls.The Meat version:I think that next time I will use mostly flat ingredients. While I love sausage, I think it made it more bulky to roll.

No matter what you put in your Stromboli, make sure that you pinch a good seal along the edges. If not, then you will have oozies coming out. When you bake it, make sure that the seal is on the Bottom. 
HALLOWEEN TWIST: 
I LOVE Halloween. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year. All during the month of October I like to serve up weird and creepy Halloween food. (or regular food with a weird name). So, I decided to twist the cheese Stromboli into a snake.
Bunch up the end where the face would be, and make a little slit at the bottom where there would be the mouth. Insert a little ball of tin foil into the mouth opening, so that when it bakes it will still be open.

Poke a few holes in your dough to let out the steam while baking. Cover with a light weight kitchen towel, and let the dough rest for about 1/2 hour before baking. Before baking, give it a good egg wash (just a beat up egg), but add food coloring. (keep in mind that blue plus yellow yolk makes green!). I had my kids help paint the snake.If you're not going to make a snake, then just do a normal egg wash on your rolled up Stromboli.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Hopefully you rolled your crust thin, so that the inner layer of dough gets cooked all the way. Again, hopefully you did a good seal on the dough so you don't loose all the pizza goodness. Apparently I didn't seal the cheese one very well, because it leaked a bit. But the boys didn't mind because I told them it was the snake's guts oozing out.I cut black olives in half and inserted in small slice of red pepper. (or you could used stuffed green olives if you like them). I cut out a forked tongue out of the red pepper, made a little slit in its mouth and inserted in the tongue. You could do the same thing with a french bread or dinner roll recipe. Instead of shaping into individual dinner rolls, roll into a snake body. Paint with egg wash, and then slice it in half for deli sandwiches. I did that last year for Halloween.
If that's just a little too gross for you, then here is the regular Stromboli.
Yum. Look at those layers. Let it rest at least 5-10 minutes before slicing it open. It will be easier to slice and keep it's shape. Plus then you won't have to wait until it cools down too much to be able to eat it. If desired, heat some pizza sauce and use it as a dip.

Enjoy!


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