Saturday, December 10, 2011

Family Fun Night~ Homemade Stromboli

Every Friday night we like to have a Family Fun Night. We started this tradition back a couple of years ago, and we have stuck with it. We do eat dinner as a family every night, but some nights during the week we have somewhere to be- Theatre classes, Scouts, sports. So we set aside Friday nights to spend at home as a family. The girls get to choose dinner for that night, and we either watch a movie, play games, or work on some sort of project together.


Lately we've been on a pizza kick. We've done Bagel Pizzas, and Pepperoni Pizzas, and once we had a Pizza Night with friends. We have found that making our crust from scratch is so much better than buying a premade one. One night we decided to try something a little different and made Stromboli. It was an instant hit, and has become our Family Fun Night meal.



INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

We make the entire thing from scratch. It is a little time consuming but totally worth it!

Sauce:

1 can plain tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

pinch of sugar (to cut the acidity)

Let it simmer on the stove while you get the rest of you ingredients together.


Toppings:


While you are letting your sauce simmer for a few minutes, use this time to get your toppings together. For this we used:


Ham


Deli Pepperoni


Green Pepper


Onion


Mushrooms


Veggie Shreds cheese


You can put whatever you like. Since I am not allergic to Casein I can use Veggie Shreds, but if you have a milk protein allergy you could use Daiya cheese instead. I have heard it is a great vegan cheese alternative, but I have not yet been able to buy it where I live.



I like to get all my toppings chopped and ready to go before I start on the dough:
Dough:

1- 3/4 to 2- 1/4 cups all purpose flour


1 envelope (or 2 & 1/4 teaspoons) pizza crust yeast (we use Fleischmann's- the recipe for the dough is on the package)

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup very warm water

3 tablespoons olive oil




Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425F.
In your stand mixer combine the 1 cup flour, package of yeast,sugar, and salt. Add water and oil. Mix together using your dough hook attachment




Mix all the ingredients together until they are well blended. Gradually add 1/2 cup of flour until a dough ball is formed. If needed, add additional flour to form the ball.


On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic- about 4 minutes.


Roll out onto a lightly greased baking sheet. (I also cover the pan in aluminum foil to save on cleanup time.)


Spread a thin layer of sauce on the dough and add your cheese alternative. Put your toppings on one side of the crust.
Fold one side of the crust over to cover the side with the toppings. Fold the edges over and pinch together. I like to brush mine with a little olive oil and sprinkle basil and oregano on top.
Cut 3 slits in the crust.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.


*For Vegans or Vegetarians you can omit any meat and fill it with veggies instead. *

**I have found that dairy free cheese melts better when it is inside something or covered, which is why this stromboli works so well. **




What are some of your favorite pizza toppings?

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