Strombolini
Recipe adapted from Brother Juniper's Bread Book [1].
My husband worked at the Br. Juniper's bakery in HS so we've eaten a lot of these things.
The basic idea is that taking a good filling and a good dough and bake them together, how can you go wrong? Think savory cinnamon roll, but use your imagination: you could use any dough and any number of fillings.
The bakery used to make a veggie version on a roasted pepper bread and a meat version on an herb bread. Here I've adapted the meat version to use up what we happened to have in the fridge (some extra Kabanosa, which I've seen called a "Polish Slim-Jim"). I think the bakery used to use some kind of salami. Sausage would be good too.
Anyway, on to the actual recipe:
Oreganato Bread
4 C flour
3/8 C polenta (course ground corn meal.. if you don't have it just use regular corn meal)
2 t granulated garlic or 2 T crushed fresh garlic (I used el cheapo garlic powder)
3 t dried parsley
2 t dried oregano
1 t black pepper (if you have a pepper mill, use it... it is way better when you get little nuggets of pepper every now and then)
1 T instant yeast
1 T salt
1 1/4 - 1 3/4 C water
Mix all the dry, add water and mix until you've got something you can knead, then knead it for approx. 10 minutes. Let it rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Roll it out flat and top with whatever you have. This time I used:
Chopped onion
Green olives
Cheese (chedder and mozarella, today. Swiss and jack previously)
Sausage bits
Other recommended toppings:
Roasted red peppers
Good sprouts (they used to use these big mung bean sprouts that were *so* good... nothing like those little alfalfa sprouts that are like getting pubes in your teeth)
Garlic (as long as you don't mind stinking)
Artichoke hearts
Roll it up and slice it into 1 inch thick slices. It'll spill, but no sweat: just dump anything that pours out on top. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours then bake for 1/2 an hour at 350.
You also don't need to slice it before baking it. For parties at the bakery they would roll one up and bake it whole, then just slice it off as people wanted some. It was quite impressive. I find that the little ones are much easier to deal w/ though.
Enjoy. Let me know if you try any other fillings.
These are great for throwing in the freezer and then you can take them to work with you for lunch! They thaw out by lunch, and then 30 seconds in the microwave and it's mmmm..mmmm goodness.