Pizza’s fine, but Philly stromboli’s better

My hometown of Philadelphia is known for several iconic foodstuffs. Unfortunately, many of them are gross — chiefly the cheesesteak, which might strike you as heretical. Our peculiar cold, wet and leaden soft pretzels are another unfortunate culinary calling card, and don’t get me started on scrapple: Look it up if you must, but it’s exactly what the word implies, and some people really love it.

We do have one regional specialty that should rightfully be better known. On the menu at most pizza shops and Italian bakeries around greater Philadelphia, it’s not a secret. But when I’ve mentioned it over the years to those who aren’t from around here, they are sometimes unfamiliar with my favorite quintessentially Philly food: Stromboli.

A close relative of pizza, stromboli is made, essentially, by rolling up an unbaked pizza like a log, tucking in the ends as you go. The finished product comes out of the oven burnished and loaflike. After a few minutes’ rest, it’s ready to be cut into thick slices and served, the perfect party bite. Paired with a salad or pile of roasted vegetables, it’s a fun Friday kind of dinner.

Its spiral structure invites creativity with your filling ingredients. I grew up eating cheesesteak strombolis, broccoli-cheddar strombolis, even strombolis stuffed with mac and cheese. But my favorite strombolis honor South Philly traditions by sticking to cured meat and mozzarella cheese, the fat rendering and filtering through the dough layers, making the exterior bottom bits crunchy while the innermost twirl of meat and dough stays chewy. Some also include a thin layer of tomato sauce, while others omit it, or serve it on the side as a dip.

As with many traditional recipes that have been cooked more in homes than in restaurants, the stromboli’s exact origin is hard to pin down. Romano’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant, located just outside Philadelphia in Delaware County, is often credited as the originator of this particular stuffed bread.

Joseph Baldino, the James Beard award-nominated chef who operates the deeply Italian American Palizzi Social Club in South Philly, has offered stromboli on the club’s menu since he took over the 100-year-old operation from his uncle in 2017.

“I think stromboli is an American version of something from Southern Italy. Each region has its own variation of a stuffed dough. It’s named after the island of Stromboli, which is off the coast of Sicily,” Baldino says. At Palizzi, it evokes the same nostalgic feelings for many diners as it does for Baldino. “The smell of it baking brings back my childhood memories.”

Baldino’s mother made it weekly, typically on Friday or Saturday, when she didn’t want to make an elaborate meal. This says something about the Baldino family’s idea of elaborate cooking. My mother made it, too, but once in a while as a kitchen project, to have something fun, homemade and special.

If you make the dough as Baldino suggests, from scratch, you will need to plan ahead and spend the better part of an afternoon babying it. Of course, you can take the shortcut of starting with a couple of dough balls from the supermarket or a pizzeria.

Baldino likes to start with something called a biga — a mixture of a little yeast, sugar, flour and water made a day in advance and fermented overnight. This technique gives you a more complex flavor and a lighter texture than quicker methods. That said, you can use whatever pizza dough recipe you like and get good results. Stromboli is flexible. Variations make it your own. “Every Italian family in South Philly does it their own way,” says Baldino, who grew up in the neighborhood.

I’m not going to pretend making the dough from scratch and rolling out and assembling four strombolis isn’t work. It is. When I was talking with Baldino about the recipe he shared, I mentioned I planned to cut it in half so it would yield two strombolis instead of four. He urged me not to do so.

“After they’ve cooled, wrap them in plastic and freeze them. They reheat perfectly, and then you have dinner another time. Or you can have people over and impress your friends without a lot of last-minute work,” says Baldino. Of course, he was right. On more than one hectic day, I was grateful to have something homemade and delicious on hand, saving me from takeout or cereal for dinner.

Once I had Baldino’s restaurant recipe adapted for my home kitchen, I considered different ways to fill it. I realized my favorite strombolis weren’t the overstuffed, zany ones from the delis of my childhood. They are the restrained, just-enough-filling kind that show off the freshly baked bread. So I modeled my vegan take on Baldino’s classic.

He warned me off using small pepperoni in favor of three-inch-wide slices that would roll up better and not fall out. So I applied this same thinking to vegetables and filled my vegan version with thin, long slices of eggplant that were well seasoned, brushed with olive oil and then roasted. In place of the traditional mozzarella, I tried both a homemade tofu ricotta and vegan cheese slices. Both work nicely. What I kept from the meaty version is the flavorful garlic and herb oil that is the signature flavor of the Palizzi Social Club stromboli.

The bad news is, most people will never get to enjoy Baldino’s strombolis there. The restaurant is open to its members only, and new membership applications haven’t been accepted in a while. The good news is, wherever you live, you can make your own stromboli. It’s a way to get a taste of this South Philly tradition, no membership required.

Classic Strombolis

Servings: 8 (makes 4 strombolis)

These crisp-chewy baked sandwiches are definitely more time-consuming when you make the dough from scratch, but you don’t have to do so. Feel free to substitute two prepared fresh pizza dough balls (about 1 pound each), available at supermarkets, as well as at some pizza shops and bakeries. Start with dividing the dough into four pieces and take it from there.

Using 3-inch-wide pepperoni slices for the filling is recommended here, for more coverage and easier folding; smaller slices tend to fall out.

• FOR THE BIGA

2/3 cup bread flour

1/2 cup warm water (about 100 degrees)

1/4 teaspoon instant dried yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

• FOR THE DOUGH

2 1/3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup warm water (about 100 degrees)

1 teaspoon instant dried yeast

1 teaspoon salt

Olive oil, for your hands and the bowl

• FOR THE FILLING

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 ounces thinly sliced pepperoni (3 inches in diameter; do not use small pepperoni)

8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

For the biga: Combine the bread flour, water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl, stirring to form a shaggy mixture. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. Refrigerate overnight.

For the dough: Scrape the biga into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment. Add the bread flour, warm water and yeast; knead on low speed for 2 minutes, until no dry flour patches are showing. Increase the speed to high; let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes, until the dough looks smooth and satiny, and it forms a ball that climbs up the hook. Stop to add the salt; knead on high speed for an additional minute.

Oil the inside of a large mixing bowl as well as your hands. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap; let the dough rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, form them into balls and arrange on the work surface. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

For the filling: Combine the oil, chopped garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

To assemble the strombolis, generously re-flour your countertop and your rolling pin. Roll the first dough ball into a rectangle about 9 inches by 12 inches, with the short side closest to you. Spoon one-quarter of the seasoned oil over the dough and spread it evenly, leaving a half-inch border around the edge.

Top with one-quarter of the pepperoni slices and one-quarter of the mozzarella slices, each in a single layer. Fold the stromboli in thirds, like a letter, tucking in the side edges as you roll. Tuck the remaining long edge under the stromboli. Place seam side down on the baking sheet.

Repeat with the remaining three dough balls, leaving an inch of space between your strombolis on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the strombolis with (plain) olive oil. Bake (middle rack) for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet from front to back after the first 15 minutes.

Let stand 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

From food writer and cookbook author Joy Manning.

Nutrition

The nutritional analysis is based on 8 servings.

Calories: 410; Total Fat: 23 g; Saturated Fat: 9 g; Cholesterol: 50 mg; Sodium: 1020 mg; Carbohydrates: 35 g; Dietary Fiber: 0 g; Sugars: 1 g; Protein: 16 g

Vegan Strombolis

Servings: 8 (makes 4 strombolis)

This meatless, dairy-free version is yet another way to enjoy an Italian American treat. As with the Classic Strombolis recipe, feel free to substitute about 2 pounds of a different homemade or store-bought pizza dough.

Make Ahead: The biga (starter) needs to rest for 2 hours, and then be refrigerated overnight. The dough needs to rise twice, for a total of 2 hours. Leftover baked strombolis can be wrapped well in plastic and stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

• FOR THE BIGA

2/3 cup bread flour

1/2 cup warm water (about 100 degrees)

1/4 teaspoon instant dried yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

• FOR THE DOUGH

2 1/3 cups bread flour, plus more as needed

1 cup warm water (about 100 degrees)

1 teaspoon instant dried yeast

1 teaspoon salt

Olive oil, for your hands and the bowl

• FOR THE FILLING

2 medium eggplants, thinly sliced on a mandoline (about 34 slices)

10 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/3 cups Tofu Ricotta (see related recipe; may substitute 16 slices mild vegan cheese, such as Chao Slices Creamy Original)

For the biga: Combine the bread flour, water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl, stirring to form a shaggy mixture. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. Refrigerate overnight.

For the dough: Scrape the biga into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment. Add the bread flour, warm water and yeast; knead on low speed for 2 minutes, until no dry flour patches are showing. Increase the speed to high; let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes, until the dough looks smooth and satiny and it forms a ball that climbs up the hook. Stop to add the salt; knead on high speed for an additional minute.

Oil the inside of a large mixing bowl as well as your hands. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap; let the dough rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, form them into balls and arrange on the work surface. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour.

For the filling: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 400 degrees. Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Arrange the eggplant slices on the baking sheets, and brush with 6 tablespoons of the oil.

Combine 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper and the paprika in a small bowl. Season the eggplant slices evenly with this mixture. Roast two sheets at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until the eggplant is tender and browning in spots. Repeat to roast the third sheet (on the upper rack). Let cool. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees.

Combine the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, the minced garlic and oregano in a small bowl.

Line a baking sheet with fresh parchment paper. Generously re-flour your countertop, and your rolling pin.

Roll the first dough ball into a rough rectangle about 9 inches by 12 inches, with the short side closest to you. Spoon one-quarter of the seasoned oil over the dough and spread evenly, leaving a half-inch border around the edge.

Top with 1/3 cup of Tofu Ricotta and one-quarter of the roasted eggplant slices. Fold the stromboli in thirds, like a letter, tucking in the side edges as you roll. Tuck the remaining long edge under the stromboli. Place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Repeat with the remaining three dough balls, leaving an inch of space between your strombolis on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the strombolis with (plain) olive oil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown, rotating the baking sheet from front to back after the first 15 minutes.

Let stand 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition

The nutritional analysis is based on 8 servings.

Calories: 420; Total Fat: 26 g; Saturated Fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 740 mg; Carbohydrates: 42 g; Dietary Fiber: 4 g; Sugars: 5 g; Protein: 9 g.

Tofu Ricotta

Makes 2 cups

Besides its supporting role in the making of Vegan Strombolis, this vegan cheese is good dotted on top of a pizza, in baked pastas and simply spread on a piece of toast.

The tofu you use makes a difference — if you can find a locally made one, it will typically be fresher and yield a better-tasting final product.

Make Ahead: The tofu ricotta can be refrigerated for up to one week.

14 ounces (1 block) firm or extra-firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the tofu, both oils, the vinegar, salt and pepper in a food processor; puree until smooth.

Use right away, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week.

Nutrition

The nutritional analysis is based on a 1/4-cup serving.

Calories: 130; Total Fat: 13 g; Saturated Fat: 2 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 230 mg; Carbohydrates: 1 g; Dietary Fiber: 0 g; Sugars: 9 g; Protein: 4 g.