Giada De Laurentiis' Venetian Pizza Starts With Store-Bought Dough

If a celebrity chef is giving us the okay to use store-bought products, we're all for it — and thanks to Giada De Laurentiis, we can shave some extra time and effort off of our Venetian pizza-making process. If you've never heard of this type of pie before (also called stromboli), it's essentially the love child of a pizza and a burrito. Classic pizza ingredients, like dough and mozzarella, are rolled up into the shape of a burrito, and the whole thing is baked in the oven until the cheese is nice and melty. Venetian pizza is an Italian-American invention that was first created in Philadelphia. Thanks to shortcuts like store-bought dough, you can easily whip it up today in the comfort of your own home.

While you can, of course, make dough at home, there's really no harm in using a version from the grocery store. Not everyone has yeast on hand at all times, and making this base from scratch can involve quite a few steps, including allowing it to rise, punching it, and rolling it out multiple times. If you use a store-bought bag, you really won't be sacrificing much in terms of flavor or texture, but you might save yourself hours of time and effort — which means more time left for eating delicious Venetian pizza.

As with a classic pizza, you'll first want to roll out your store-bought dough when making stromboli. You don't have to use sauce if you'd rather let the cheese melt and create all of the liquidity in your dish, just like De Laurentiis does when she simply sprinkles shredded mozzarella on her Venetian pizza to start. For a drippier final product, feel free to spread a layer of marinara, pesto, or even Alfredo on your rolled-out dough.

Next, all the other ingredients should go on top in full layers instead of being scattered around like you would with a classic pizza. De Laurentiis uses spinach and prosciutto sandwiched in between rounds of mozzarella. For yours, feel free to use meats like pepperoni, salami, and mortadella, veggies like olives, bell peppers, arugula, mushrooms, and broccoli, and extras like anchovies, herbs, and seasonings. Or, go with a theme, like a cheesesteak flavor with steak and provolone, or a meatless version with mushrooms and walnuts. When your fillings are good to go, you can roll your store-bought dough like a burrito, seal off both ends, cut slits across the top, and bake until everything is nice and gooey.