Enormity and Stromboli

A few people commented this week something to the effect of, “How do you bake all that stuff you put on your blog and you’re not enormous?”

I have three tricks, two kind of sneaky, third not so sneaky:

1. A 6’4 basketball playing husband with a pretty good sweet tooth and generally great appetite
2. An extra freezer in our back garden shed
3. About 3 pairs of running shoes a year, a good, chatty walking partner (thanks, Mama Lo!), and Miss BodyRock herself.

I can’t say there aren’t times when I eat every last morsel of what I bake, but my favorite part of baking is sharing it with friends, family, neighbors, unsuspecting strangers. After a reasonable amount of something yummy, I pop it into the freezer and break it out whenever a need arises!

And when I do happen to eat the whole batch myself (those darn flapjacks got me this week), I pop this lady on the ipod and head out for some fresh air.

{The original version is better but it wouldn’t let me embed, grrr.}

Right, so, back to business. Some savory baking for your Friday. Last week I made stromboli. And I even managed photos (that’s two in a row this week, but who’s counting!).

Stromboli

Feeds 4-6 people

Dough

5-6 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp yeast
2 cups warm water (but not hot)
2 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, soften together the water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit for a few minutes so the yeast starts to do its thing. Add in 5 cups of flour and mix until it starts to form a ball and get sticky. Turn it out onto a flour covered surface and knead it, adding the last cup of flour as necessary, for a few minutes. When it comes together into a ball, put it in a greased bowl in a warm spot for about an hour.

While the dough is rising, put together the filling ingredients. Think of it like a pizza – whatever works on a pizza will work in the stromboli. For mine, I usually do two different kinds, vegetables and pepperoni, and one with spinach and butternut squash. Sounds weird, I know, but it really works!

Filling:

2 large onions, chopped
2 cups frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 butternut squash, roasted and diced
3-4 tbsp cream cheese or goat’s cheese

1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tsp oregano
pepperoni, sliced

salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten

Chop the onions and divide them into two pans. Cook them until they start to get translucent. Add the peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and oregano to one pan. Let them cook until they start to get soft and then take them off the heat. With the other pan of onions, just toss them into a bowl with the roasted butternut squash and thawed spinach.

Now, divide the dough into two chunks and roll one of them out into a rectangle. Spread one of the fillings down the middle of the dough and top with cheese.

Fold the bottom side up over the filling, tuck the ends in, and fold the top side to close it. Use a little water to seal the edges together. Flip the stromboli onto a lined baking sheet so the seam side is down. Brush the top with some of the beaten egg – this isn’t essential to the taste, but it makes it golden instead of floury. Really up to you.

Pop the strombolis (what is the plural there?) into the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Give them a minute to cool, then slice them and serve them! I like to cut them on the diagonal so they look a little fancy.

There you go! Full on stromboli tutorial (with photos!) for your Friday. Have a lovely weekend!