Mmmmm …mummy stromboli for Halloween

It’s the season when zombies eat brains and people eat mummies. At least, they can if they make this “Easy Mummy Stromboli.” But as always, “ease” is defined by the cook’s experience and time constraints.

One of the great things about this is how easy it can be, but doesn’t have to be.

The no-fuss version would use a store-ready dough such as two pizza crusts, a jar of pizza sauce, and a bag of grated mozzarella cheese. But I heartily encourage readers to try the home-made dough and sauce, and remind that pre-grated cheese is coated to keep it from sticking together.If you always use it, you may not notice; but once you grate your own, you’ll almost certainly never go back.

The marinara recipe below uses a jar or can of tomato sauce as a base, so you can season it to your heart’s delight. And this dough surprised me by coming out soft and fluffy, without getting soggy from the sauce. I offer one caveat: My dough required about a cup more of flour before it became firm enough to roll out. Next time I’ll withhold the half-cup water when I start mixing, adding the agua a little at a time if needed.

This makes two stromboli, which meant the next day there was one for MT to take to the newsroom for comments. Her report:

Bill O’Boyle was one of the first to enjoy the visual mummy impact. After chuckling at it for a while, he tried a slice and pronounced it good. But he might have been a little creeped out by the design.

“I’m glad I didn’t get the eyes,” he said, referring to the olive circles.

Margaret Roarty said the mummy looked cute — “definitely a good treat for a Halloween party” —but added she’s “not such a fan of pizza sauce. Objectively speaking, it’s good. It’s just not my cup of tea. The bread is good.”

Pizza fan Sam Zavada was very happy with the stromboli. “We’re on a roll in the test kitchen, a very good run,” he said. “If you sold this in any bar, there would be a market for it. It’s very professionally done.”

Jim MacIntyre from production was the only person to try it cold, without waiting for MT to zap it in the break room microwave. “The dough is fluffy,” he said with approval. “The tomato sauce has a sharp bite, that I like.”

“If I bought something like this from a pizza shop,” he concluded. “I’d definitely buy it again.”

Executive editor Jake Higgins was among the majority who tried the stromboli reheated, and MT cautioned him to wait for it to cool before he tried it. “I think the fresh dough smelled very good,” he said later. “It made me anxious for it to cool down.” He gave it a thumbs up and added, “I got a good ‘cheese pull,’ which is always a good thing.”

Page designer Lyndsay Bartos evaluated just about each ingredient: “I liked the pepperoni and the cheese,” she said. “I thought the bread was very good. Sometimes stromboli can get soggy, but that didn’t happen at all with this one,” she added with approval.

Two variations for consideration: You can make four smaller, personal-size stromboli, or use all the dough to make one big one, which would allow you to add other cold cuts (ham and salami, maybe), cheese (parmesan, of course) and even some heat from, say, banana pepper rings. Do that while skipping the tomato sauce and you’d be making my favorite stromboli from long-time friend and expert home chef Gary, which I wrote about for my eighth Times Leader Test Kitchen in May of 2020.

Dobru chut!

Easy Mummy Stromboli (abountifulkitchen.com, Si Foster)

Home made dough option

1 tablespoon yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

4 cups flour

½ cup canola, vegetable or olive oil

½ cup milk, warmed

½ cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 egg beaten, if halving the recipe, use one egg

Filling

1 16-ounce pepperoni, sliced

1 12-15 ounce jar pizza sauce , or homemade sauce below

4-6 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Home made sauce option

1 14-15 ounce jar (or can) tomato sauce

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons dry Italian seasoning

1 clove minced garlic

pinch of sugar

salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl, mix yeast and ¼ cup warm water. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside until yeast begins to bubble.

Add 4 cups flour, oil, warm milk, water, sugar, salt and egg to the bowl (consider withholding the water until you mix it, adding as needed; my dough was much too moist and required nearly a cup more of flour to become workable). Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and the flour is no longer visible. Switch to the dough hook and turn on low for 2 minutes (or put dough on floured surface and kneed). Scrape down sides of bowl and spray sides of bowl lightly with cooking oil. Cover the bowl and place in a warm place for about 1 hour, or the dough may be placed in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight in a Ziplock bag .

While dough is rising, make sauce if using. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 10-15 minutes on medium heat.

Place dough on clean, floured surface. Split in half. Roll out each piece into approximately a 14×8 inch rectangle.

Spread about ½ to ¾ cup of the pizza sauce down the middle of the rolled out dough. Lay half of the meat on top of the pizza sauce. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the meat.

Using a pizza cutter or knife, start at the top of the dough and cut ½ inch strips along each side. Starting at top, fold the strips over alternately, ending at bottom. Pinch the ends together at top and bottom, tuck under to avoid the dough opening during baking.

Let sit 30 minutes. Heat oven to 375°. If shiny dough is desired, brush with a beaten egg. Just before baking, place a cut olive on mummy for eyes.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes. The mummy should be golden on bottom and top. Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes before cutting.