The Periphery of the Mind

So, last night Maryanne and I made stromboli, and it wasn't bad.

Quick and Easy Stromboli

1 Canister of Pillsbury Pizza Dough
Mozarrella (I use 2% milk mozarella)
Corn Meal
Whatever toppings you want

I opened the cannister, and unrolled the dough. It's a bit of a rectangular critter, kinda' like a jumbo sheet of crescent roll dough. I tore the sheet in half and laid it out in two seperate pieces. You might want to mash it down a bit, that's okay as the dough -will- expand in cooking.

Then we laid out the toppings. I made some ground beef (96% fat free) with fresh black pepper and garam masala cooked in. We used about quarter pound each, and added mozarella on top. Maryanne chopped some canadian bacon for hers, and I used some diced peppers on mine. Then, once it was all laid out, you roll it up like a big burrito, making sure to close the ends. You can actually cram quite a bit of toppings into it, just make sure to leave room to wrap the thing up.

Next I liberally covered my oven stone with corn meal. A cooking sheet should work just fine though if you don't have a stone. The corn meal helps to keep the dough from sticking, and adds a nice flavorful "grit" to the final crust. I know that adding "grit" sounds kind of weird, but it works well and tastes good. 15 minutes in the oven, and the dough is done. Pull it out and serve with marinara on the side.

Apparently, the main difference between stromboli and a calazone is the use of marinara. If you add marinara before baking, it's a calazone. If the marinara is on the side, it's stromboli.

Anyway, the meal turned out really good. Maryanne was talking about other ways to make it in the future, and we were both really pleased with the Pillsbury dough. I may try kneading other ingredients into it in the future however.