FLOWER POT KITCHEN: WOOD FIRED PIZZA STROMBOLI

29 Jan 2014

WOOD FIRED PIZZA STROMBOLI

Gorgeous crispy thin crust dough stuffed full of jammon serrano, salami cured meats, fresh onions, peppers, chillies, fresh tomatoes and lots of gooey melting buffalo and mozzarella cheese. This is more than a pizza, each bite delivers a mouthful of gorgeous creamy buffalo mozzarella cheese with the punch of chilli followed by the richness from the cured meats, the crunch from the peppers and onions finishes the mouthful with freshness from the tomatoes and thyme.

A stromboli is more than a pizza and similar to a calzone, just stuffed with a deeper filling, Stromboli is a small Island off the north coast of Sicily.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DOUGH CRUST

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g salt

50ml oil

320g water

Semolina for dusting

Mix all the dry ingredients together, add the oil and water and bring together to form a ball, knead for 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and springs back. Cover and leave on the side for one hour to prove or you can prove in the fridge for min six hours or over night, the dough will keep for two days in the fridge, when you are ready to use the dough leave to relax at room temperature for 15 minutes, divide into 4-6 balls, dust with a little flour or semolina.

PIZZA TOPPINGS

Jammon Serrano

Salami

Mozzarella grated

fresh buffalo mozzarella

Fresh tomatoes

Fresh basil leaves

Pinch of fresh thyme

Salt

Pepper

Sliced onion

Sliced red peppers

Sliced red chillies

Roll out your dough into a thin rectangle, layer all your toppings in the middle of the dough, then fold the left side up and over the filling, repeat with the right side so you have a long sausage shape. Gently roll the Stromboli over onto a pizza peel if you have one and slide onto your pre-heated pizza stone in the oven or into your pizza oven, cook for a few minutes in a pizza oven or approx 10 minutes on a pizza stone until golden brown all over.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.