Family Stromboli

Italian meats, cheeses and sun dried tomato sauce wrapped up in pizza dough for a hearty crowd-pleasing comfort food.

Family Stromboli

Servings: 1 slice
Yield: 10
Prep Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 20 min

Ingredients

16 ounces pizza crust
4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
10 ounces Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
8 ounces sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
4 ounces Canadian bacon slices
2 ounces sliced salami
½ cup Traina sun dried tomato ketchup
2 Tbs fresh basil, chiffonade

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450F
Roll pizza crust into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface, approximately 12 x 18 inches. Allow to re-rise while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Cook the Italian sausages in casings in a sauté pan until cooked through. Once they're cooked, remove casings and chop sausages.
Next step is to layer all of the ingredients on top of the crust. Everything will be placed in layers lengthwise down the center of the 12 inch side.
Layers, starting at the bottom: provolone, ham, salami, sausage, mozzarella, ketchup and basil.
Next, the edges flanking out from the center, cut slits from center outward, spaced 2 inches apart.
Starting at one end, pick up two of the cut edges and pull up and over the fillings and create a cris-crossed placement. Continue braiding cut edges across the fillings until you come to the other end. It should look like a big braid down the center of a large loaf.
Move the loaf to a baking pan and bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until crust is cooked and browned.
Once cooking is completed, remove from oven and place on a presentable cutting board. Cut into long slices and serve.

Recipe Tags

One of my good friends in high school was Italian and her Mom’s specialty for birthday parties and sleepovers was stromboli. What is effectively an Italian turnover, filled with deli treats, is emblazoned in my memory as a favorite adolescent food memory. It’s also a festive party dish, perfect if you’re feeding a crowd. I wanted to recreate her famous stromboli, but tweaked it with a few conveniences for my busy schedule as a mom and small business owner including sun dried tomato ketchup and ready-made pizza dough. I made this for a family event and not a crumb was left behind.