Rolled Pepperoni Pizza Loaf #BreadBakers

A simple pizza dough is transformed into a rolled pepperoni pizza loaf, with mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, freshly baked and ready to slice and serve.

You’d have to have been reading here a long time (more than seven years! Anybody?) to know my inspiration for this stuffed bread loaf. Madam Wong’s pizza rolls look like cinnamon rolls, but they are rolled up with rice tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. They are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.

I’ve long thought it would be fun to bake a similar bread in a loaf shape instead of rolls so the filling would make a pretty spiral when it was sliced. Rather than a wet sauce, this time I’ve used soft sun-dried tomatoes and added pepperoni because, well, pepperoni is fabulous.

Rolled Pepperoni Pizza Loaf

If you don’t have fresh oregano, by all means substitute dried. Just a light sprinkle – perhaps a 1/2 teaspoon will do. 

Ingredients

For the dough:

3/4 cup or 180ml lukewarm water (not hot)

1 teaspoon active-dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 cups or 250g strong bread flour, plus more if needed

1 teaspoon salt

Drizzle olive oil for the dough bowl

For the filling:

3 oz or 85g sliced pepperoni

5 oz or 142g mozzarella cheese, shredded 

1/4 cup, firmly packed, or 45g soft (ready to eat) sun-dried tomatoes

2-3 sprigs fresh oregano

1 clove garlic, finely minced 

For baking:

1 egg, beaten

1 oz or 28g freshly grated Parmesan

Method

Put the yeast and sugar in a bowl. Pour in the warm water and give it a stir. Set aside for a few minutes. It should start to get foamy on top. 

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the flour and salt together. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix well to form a soft dough.

Using the dough hook on the stand mixer, or kneading by hand against the counter, knead the dough on  until it forms a smooth, slightly tacky ball that springs back when you poke it, 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough sticks to the bowl or your hands, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s easier to work with.

Avoid adding too much flour if possible. I ended up adding two tablespoons this time. This is the sort of thing that can change with your flour and the humidity in the air. 

If you're planning to make the pepperoni pizza loaf today, then give the dough a rise. Clean out the mixing bowl, coat it with a little oil, and transfer the dough back inside. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

 

Alternatively, you can store the dough in the fridge and make the stuffed loaf the next day. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

Take the dough out of the refrigerator about half an hour before you are ready to bake.

Line a 9x5 in or 23x13cm loaf pan with baking parchment. 

Pull the leaves off of your sprigs of oregano and cut the sun-dried tomatoes into skinny slices. Mix them both together with the mozzarella and garlic. 

Roll out the pizza dough into a rectangle, about 10x14 in or 25x35cm. 

Cover it almost to the sides with the cheese mixture, then the pepperoni. 

Roll up from the short side. The pepperoni don’t really roll up well but do your best. Tuck the sides over slightly to contain the filling.

 Transfer the roll to your prepared loaf pan, seam side down. 

Cover lightly with a cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C. Brush the beaten egg over the top of the loaf.

 Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese. 

Bake in your preheated oven at for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top and sides are golden. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack before slicing it to serve. 

Enjoy!

This month my Bread Baker friends are sharing recipes for stuffed breads. Check them out below! Many thanks to our host Renu of Cook with Renu.

• Coconut Buns by Magical Ingredients
• Callaloo Loaf by Passion Kneaded
• Double Cheese Fatayers by Ambrosia
• Meatball Stromboli by Palatable Pastime
• Pepperoni Rolls by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Ricotta Calzones with Spinach and Sausage by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rolled Pepperoni Pizza Loaf by Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Custard buns by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Stuffed Potato Kulcha by Sneha's Recipe
• Sweet Potato and Apple Braid by What Smells So Good?
• Taco Tuesday Calzone by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Whole Wheat Vegetarian Calzones by Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Rolled Pepperoni Pizza Loaf! 

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Overnight Yeasted Cheese Scones

These overnight yeasted cheese scones have cheese inside and on top. They make a delightful breakfast or snack or use them as sandwich bread. 

A couple of months ago in this very group, you might recall that we posted recipes from Poland. I made a very tasty potato pie called baba kartoflana in Polish. While I was researching for that recipe, I somehow came across these overnight, yeasted cheese scones from Hungary and made a note for later. 

According to the original author, these are called pogácsa in Hungarian and they are a popular bite-size snack served at the beginning of parties or get-togethers. Makes sense because they would be wonderful accompaniments to cocktails. Pogácsa are always made with a yeast dough. 

Since we aren’t really doing parties these days, I made mine normal scone/biscuit size. They are perfect on their own, especially warm. After eating one scone for breakfast plain, my husband also made sandwiches with a couple for lunch. He highly recommends salami and mustard on these. I think smoked ham would also be delightful. 

Overnight Yeasted Cheese Scones

In the original recipe, as mentioned above, a much smaller cookie cutter is used so that the scones are bite-sized. They also have half the cheese. In our house more cheese is always a good thing so I’ve doubled the cheese and put some in the dough and on top. 

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lukewarm milk
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 113g butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, separated into yolk and white
1/3 cup or 75g sour cream
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated and divided

Method
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm milk. Set aside. 

Whisk the flour and salt together into a large bowl. Add the cubed butter and use a pastry blender to cut it into the flour. 

Add in half of the grated cheese and mix well. 

Make a hollow in the flour and pour in milk/yeast mixture, followed by the egg yolk and sour cream. 

Use a wooden spoon (then a clean hand) to mix the ingredients together. At first it looks too dry but just keep at it and shortly, it comes together into a stiff dough. Knead until smooth. 

Press the dough into a fat disk and cover it with cling film. Chill overnight in the refrigerator. 

The next day, when you are ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator so it can warm up slightly.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner and preheat your oven to 428°F or 220°C. Beat the egg white to loosen it, adding a 1/2 teaspoon of water.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 3/4 in or 2 cm thick. Use a 3 in or 7.5cm cm cookie cutter to cut out the scones.

Briefly knead together any leftover dough and roll it out again to cut more scones. 

Transfer all of the scones to the prepared baking sheet.

Brush the tops with the beaten egg white. 

Then top them with the other half of the grated cheese. 

Bake the scones in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. Cool them on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving. 

Enjoy! 

Today's Baking Bloggers theme is yeast breads. Check out all the lovely recipes my blogger friends are sharing. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Bagels from Sneha's Recipe
• Connie's Swedish Rye from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Crunchy Herbed Whole Wheat Breadsticks from Cook with Renu
• Crusty No-Knead Oatmeal Bread from Making Miracles
• Hearty Slow Fermented Rustic Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Hveteboller (Norwegian Cardamom Buns) from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Overnight Yeasted Cheese Scones from Food Lust People Love
• Pizza Focaccia from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

Pin these Overnight Yeasted Cheese Scones!

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Confit de Gesiers

This confit de gesiers takes a tough, inexpensive part of the chicken and turns it into tender morsels that are a great appetizer for your cocktail party. 

Several years ago, my mom and I traveled to France to visit friends. While we were there, we hit all of the local markets and one of our favorites had a stall that served roasted rotisserie chicken, which was fabulous. But the very best part were the gizzards that cooked in the dripped fat in a pan at the bottom of the rotisserie. They were so tender they almost melted in our mouths.

I wanted to recreate those gizzards at home. These come pretty darn close. If you are serving picky eaters, just don't tell them these are gizzards until they've had a taste! They will love them. 

Confit de Gesiers

Confit is a traditional French method of slow cooking then preserving poultry, usually duck, in fat. If you have enough duck fat, you can certainly use that instead of canola oil in this recipe. Gesiers, of course, is French for gizzards.

Ingredients

3 1/3 lbs or 1500g gizzards, cleaned

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

8-10 small cloves garlic, peeled

2-3 bay leaves

4 cups or 946ml canola oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 250°F or 121°C.

Pile the gizzards into a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid. Season them with the salt and both peppers and give them a good stir. 

Pour in the oil and heat the pot on the stovetop slowly until the oil is warm, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Poke in garlic cloves and bay leaves, making sure they all covered with the oil. 

Put the tight-fitting lid on the Dutch oven and put it in your preheated oven for 4 hours. Stir once midway through. 

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and put the gizzards in sterilized jars. Cover them with the cooking oil and store in the jars in the refrigerator. 

To serve them, fry the gizzards in a little of the oil until browned and crispy. Sprinkle on some chopped parsley. Put the pan out with toothpicks.

(Another serving suggestion: Warm the gizzards and drain off the oil. Serve on a salad of spring greens that have been tossed with a light vinaigrette.)

Enjoy! 

Today I’m joining a new group of bloggers for a virtual event we are calling Sunday Funday, where we share recipes your families will love every Sunday. Many thanks to this week's host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Barbecue Smokehouse Almonds by Palatable Pastime
• Cheddar Horseradish Dip by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chunky Peanut Butter Dip by Sneha's Recipe
• Confit de Gesiers by Food Lust People Love
• Fontina Salami Bites by Making Miracles
• Olive Tapenade by Pandemonium Noshery
• Spiced Cheese Wafers by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Tomato Bread by Our Good Life

Pin this Confit de Gesiers!

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