Ham & Cheese Stromboli ~ a delightful change of pace!

(Photo by Taste of Home)

A couple of weeks ago I spotted this recipe in an older issue of Country Woman. We love calzone at our house, and this Ham & Cheese Stromboli recipe sounded so good to me. The combination of ingredients -- including ham, cheese, and mustard -- sounded like a nice change from our usual Italian-flavored calzone. Not that the Italian flavors aren't wonderful; just sometimes one likes a change. This was it!

I used what I had on hand: chopped ham rather than sliced; pepperoni rather than summer sausage; shredded cheddar rather than sliced. Also, I spread the dough with the mustard rather than spreading the mustard over the ham, which would work fine with sliced ham, but not with chopped. I used a deli-style spicy brown mustard. I used my own recipe for calzone dough so I could make the dough in the bread machine; so easy! And I made two smaller strombolis out of this rather than one large one. I did not braid the loaf as in the Taste of Home recipe, but simply rolled it up as described in the dough recipe below. This combination of flavors was delicious and I would definitely make it again.

I am including my recipe for calzone dough here for those who would like to try it. I got the recipe from my good friend Marilyn, and it's a great one.

CALZONE DOUGH

1 cup warm water
1 Tblsp. olive oil
1 Tblsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. dry yeast

Filling ingredients of your choice -- shredded cheese, cooked ground beef or ham, pepperoni, cooked vegetables, etc.
Beaten egg, if desired
Cornmeal for sprinkling baking sheet

Place ingredients in bread machine* in order suggested by manufacturer. Run the dough cycle; turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out and add filling to within 1/2 inch of edges. Roll up, seal, and brush with beaten egg if desired. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise 15 minutes before baking. Bake at 375º for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 1 large calzone -- about 4 to 6 servings. (Or make 2 smaller ones.)

*(If you don’t have a bread machine, use 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 Tblsp. or 1 packet yeast. In a bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil, and salt. Stir in water. Mix until a soft dough forms. Add remeaining flour if needed. Turne out onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 4 minutes. Roll out, fill, let rise, and bake as described above.)