If you enjoy pizza, especially making your own, then do yourself a favour and learn how to make this red pepper stromboli. Essentially thin crust pizza dough rolled up with some select ingredients and baked.
As with pizza, the origins of stromboli are a little vague. Did it originate in Italy or amongst the Italian-American community in the US? And does it really matter? So many of the great dishes of the world are a fusion of influences. The bottom line is that this red pepper stromboli was delicious. Despite the similarities to pizza, the outcome is very different.
Many other stromboli recipes you will find use a lot more cured meats and cheese than this recipe. While I love cured meats and cheese, I enjoy them the most when used in moderation. That restraint is evident in this recipe. You can taste and appreciate the individual components without cured meat overload.
The quality of pancetta, chorizo, camembert, and tasty cheddar can vary widely. The quality of this red pepper stromboli is very dependent on its ingredients, so source the best you can afford. Especially with the cheese. There is so much bland mass produced cheese around. Good camembert and good aged cheddar should have a lot of character about them, which will contribute to the character of the stromboli.
This red pepper stromboli worked great together with a green salad, dressed of course with delectabilia salad dressing. This dressing brings some acidic balance to the sweetness of the red peppers and salty umami characters of the cured meats and cheeses.
How to make stromboli with red peppers and pancetta
Ingredients
Dough
- 200 ml warm water
- 2 tsp active yeast 1 sachet
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Fillings
- 2 red peppers
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 200 g pancetta or prosciutto
- 50 g chorizo
- 125 g camembert cheese sliced into 5mm thick strips.
- 100 g tasty cheddar cheese grated
- 1 egg whisked
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 degC.
- In a large bowl, add the warm water and stir in the yeast. Allow to sit until bubbles form (about 10 minutes).
- Stir in the salt.
- Stir in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Use a wooden spoon initially, then use use your hands.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes of so. It is ready when you can poke your finger into the dough and it springs back to almost its original form.
- Wipe the side of the bowl, then smear the olive oil around the bowl and the ball of dough.
- Cover the ball of dough in the bowl with plastic wrap, and leave for 2 hours.
- While the dough is resting and rising, wash, halve, and deseed the red peppers.
- Smear the red peppers with olive oil, put on a baking tray and roast for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
- Remove any skin from the peppers that peels off easily. If it doesn’t peel off easily, just leave it there.
- Dice the peppers into long strips and set aside.
- After 2 hours or so, the dough will have doubled in size. Punch it down to remove the bigger air bubbles.
Construction
- Preheat the oven to 180 degC, if not already from the red peppers.
- Dust a large surface with flour and roll the dough out into a large rectangle.
- With a long edge of the rectangle closest to you, start laying the ingredients on to the dough. Leave 40mm along the the long edge closest to you clear of ingredients, and 30mm along the other edges.
- Start with a sprinkle of grated cheese.
- Lay down the pancetta slices and chorizo.
- Distribute the roasted red peppers and sliced camembert.
- Starting with the long edge closest to you, start rolling it up. Fold the clear 40mm up and over the ingredients. Then keep rolling.
- Place on a baking tray, brush with the whisked egg, then make a few cuts in the top of the Stromboli to allow steam to escape.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Crispy smashed potatoes. Mushrooms, pancetta, wilted spinach, and poached egg.
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