Chose Your Ingredients

• For homemade stromboli, use a prepared pizza dough that you can easily roll out. If it has been refrigerated, allow it to sit at room temperature for about an hour before you plan to put your stromboli together. Choose any type of tomato or pizza sauce -- store-bought or homemade -- for a pizza-style stromboli, or omit it altogether. Or use pesto or a garlic butter spread. Choose fillings that you like, including mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sausage and cooked vegetables such as mushrooms and broccoli.

Assembly Time

• Use a rolling pin to stretch your pizza dough into a rectangle shape. Spread any sauce on the dough, leaving about a 3-inch edge of dough around the perimeter. Top the sauce with meat or vegetable toppings, then mozzarella cheese. Brush the edges with an egg wash. Starting from one of the shorter sides, roll the stromboli tightly from one end to the other and position the open seam on the bottom. Cut slits along the top of the stromboli to allow steam to escape.

Refrigerator Storage

• Wrap the uncooked stromboli tightly in plastic wrap and place it on a baking sheet to store in the refrigerator. Store an uncooked stromboli in the refrigerator for as long as 24 hours. If you want to store it for longer before cooking, add a layer or two of heavy-duty aluminum foil, in addition to the plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for as long as one month.

Cooking the Stromboli

• When you're ready to cook your stromboli, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking it for roughly 25 to 30 minutes, or until the stromboli is golden brown and you can see the cheese bubbling in through the slits. Allow frozen stromboli to thaw for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before placing it in the oven; you may need to cook it for five to 10 minutes longer. Remove the stromboli from the oven and let it cool slightly for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing it into thick strips to serve.