Stromboli may be the original hot pocket. It’s delicious bread enveloping savory meats, cheeses, and marinara sauce. Take a bite of this easy stromboli recipe and enjoy all the Italian-American flavors.
You’ll love the crisp outer crust and be delighted by the fluffy inner crust and all the fantastic flavors that await.
Serve warm out of the oven with a side of marinara for dipping!
You can use yeast bread or pizza dough for this recipe.
Want it faster? Buy premade refrigerator pizza dough.
Stromboli vs. Calzone:
The two utilize the same ingredients, but the stromboli and calzone are not the same.
The sealing is the major difference.
A calzone is sealed like a taco. It is folded.
A stromboli like a burrito. It is rolled.
A calzone is sealed by crimping the edges, while a stromboli is sealed by folding dough over the sprial.
Both use an egg wash.
Calzones are typically a single-serving size, while stromboli is meant to be shared.
The Calzone is authentic Italian.
They originated in Naples.
Stromboli is Italian-American.
It originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–South Philly actually, in an Italian neighborhood.
Named after the Italian island Stromboli–the island has a volcano named Mount Stromboli.
Calzones use ricotta cheese, and stromboli does not.
There is no tomato sauce in a calzone, while in the stromboli, it’s acceptable.
Time: 8 hours 40 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
• 1 pound frozen bread dough or prepared pizza dough
• flour for dusting
• 1/2 cup marinara
• 1/4 pound pepperoni, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
• 1/4 pound capicola, sliced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pizza seasoning, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less, to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (more or less, to taste)
• Egg wash:1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water mixed, optional
• marinara sauce, optional, for dipping
How to Make Easy Stromboli
If using frozen bread dough:
Grease a large bowl, place the frozen bread dough in the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Allow defrosting in the refrigerator overnight or for 6-8 hours.
Once the dough is unfrozen, allow resting at room temperature for one hour.
You can also make homemade yeast bread or homemade pizza dough and skip the defrosting.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly spritz a baking sheet with nonstick oil.
Lightly dust a large work area and a rolling pin with flour.
Roll the dough out into an 8×13-inch rectangle. (you can cut it into 8 squares for mini stromboli)
Begin layering the dough with the fillings in this order:
marinara, then use the back of the spoon to spread to within 1/2 inch of the dough edges
Pepperoni
1/3 of the cheese
Capicola
Remaining cheese
1 teaspoon pizza seasoning.
Salt and pepper
Next, tightly roll up the dough from the short end (like a jelly roll), tuck the ends over the roll, and pinch to close the seam.
Place rolled stromboli on a prepared baking sheet.
Using a knife, slice four slits (one inch in length) across the top.
Brush the stromboli with the egg wash if using.
Sprinkle remaining pizza seasoning on top of stromboli.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
Allow stromboli to rest for 2-3 minutes.
Slice and serve with a side of marinara for dipping.