The Stromboli That Made Me Rethink Everything
I met Chef Jenn Louis on Instagram. She's a James Beard Award nominee and Food & Wine Best New Chef, and she had a proposition: trade a Baking Steel for some of her recipes.
I shipped the Steel. She sent back this Stromboli recipe.
Deal of the century.
I tested it the next day, fed it to the contractors building out our test kitchen. Grown men stopped mid-bite to ask for the recipe. One guy said it was better than his Italian grandmother's. That's when I knew this was the one.
What Makes This Stromboli Different:
Most stromboli is just rolled-up pizza with sad, soggy deli meat inside. This one is different.
The brown mustard base cuts through the richness. The layering technique (meats, cheese, spices) creates pockets of flavor instead of one uniform blob. And baking it on the Steel at high heat gives you a golden, crispy exterior that shatters when you slice into it—not the pale, doughy mess you get from a sheet pan.
The Move:
Make this before your pizza party. While your guests are arriving, throw it back on the preheated Baking Steel for 5 minutes to reheat. Slice it thick, serve it warm. It's the appetizer that makes people forget you're serving pizza as the main course.
Chef Jenn Louis called it her "staff lunch Stromboli." I call it the best one I've ever made.
Ingredients
- 1 ball 72-hour pizza dough (or your favorite dough)
- 25 grams (1 tablespoon) brown mustard
- 50 grams (3 thin slices) provolone cheese
- 50 grams (3 slices) sopressata, thinly sliced
- 25 grams (¼ red onion) red onion, sliced very thin
- 15 grams (8 thin slices) jalapeño, thinly sliced
- 50 grams (4 thin slices) uncured ham (I suggest Niman Ranch ham)
- Fine sea salt and pepper, to taste
- Olive oil, for brushing
- Tomato sauce, for serving
Instructions
1. Preheat the Baking Steel
Place your Baking Steel Original on the middle rack of your oven. Preheat to 450°F for one hour. This gives the Steel time to absorb and hold the heat you need for that crispy, golden crust.
2. Stretch the dough
On a sheet of parchment paper, stretch your dough into a long, skinny oval—approximately 12 inches by 6 inches. No need to flour the parchment.
3. Build the layers
Spread the brown mustard all over the dough, leaving a ¼-inch border around the edges. Season with salt and pepper. Layer on the provolone, sopressata, red onion, jalapeño, and ham.
4. Roll it up
Starting from one long edge, roll the dough jelly-roll style into a tight log. Pinch the ends to seal. Brush the top with olive oil.
5. Launch onto the Steel
Place the parchment paper with the stromboli on a pizza peel or large cutting board. Slide it onto the preheated Baking Steel.
6. Bake and rotate
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating every few minutes with the pizza peel, until the stromboli is golden-brown with darker, toasty spots on top.
7. Cool and slice
Use the pizza peel to slide the stromboli (still on parchment) out of the oven. Let it cool for a few minutes, then slice into thick diagonals. Serve with tomato sauce.
Why the Baking Steel Matters
A sheet pan won't give you the crispy, golden bottom this stromboli deserves. The Baking Steel's thermal mass holds heat at 450°F, creating a crisp exterior while keeping the inside tender and layered. It's the difference between a pale, doughy roll and a stromboli that shatters when you slice into it.
About the Author
Andris Lagsdin is the founder of Baking Steel. A former restaurant cook turned steel nerd, he invented the Baking Steel in 2011 after realizing home ovens needed better heat conductivity to make restaurant-quality pizza and bread. What started as a backyard experiment with a welder became a company that's helped thousands of home bakers stop compromising on crust.
Andris teaches simple, repeatable techniques focused on heat, timing, and confidence in the home kitchen. He believes the best tools get out of your way and let you cook. When he's not testing new recipes or talking about thermal mass, he's making pizza with his family in Massachusetts.
Read more about Andris and the Baking Steel story →
