Pepperoni Pull Apart Bread

Sprinkle the yeast over warm water. The best way to test the temperature of your water is to take it from the tap and run your wrist in the stream. If you can’t feel the temperature of the water, it’s perfect. Stir yeast in with a fork until it is dissolved and set aside.
¼ cup (60mL) warm water, 2 and ¼ teaspoons (7g) active dry yeast
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, blend the milk, sugar, salt, 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning, and garlic powder with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Stir in the butter, eggs, and yeast mixture.
1 cup (240mL) warm milk, 2 Tablespoons (30g) granulated sugar, 1 and ½ teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, 2 large eggs
Gradually stir in the flour. If you are using a stand mixer, use your dough hook. If mixing by hand, continue to use a wooden spoon or spatula. Add flour until your dough is soft enough to handle, usually when it can easily pull away from the sides of your bowl.
4 and ½ cups (540g) all-purpose flour
Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. You may need to add the last cup or so of flour by hand. Your dough should feel like PlayDoh to the touch and “snap” when you pull it apart.
Spray or wipe your bowl with olive oil and place the dough ball into the bottom of the bowl. Flip the dough ball over to coat the top, and then cover the bowl with a lid or towel and place in a warm environment. I like to heat my oven to 200ºF (93ºC), turn it off, then leave the door cracked with the bowl inside. Allow dough to rise until double in size, about 90 minutes.
After dough has doubled, punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough to about ½" thickness and, using a biscuit cutter, the rim of a glass, or a circular cookie cutter approximately 4" in diameter to cut circles of dough. Re-roll dough until you have about 12-14 circles. Save the remaining dough and refer to notes¹ for what to do with it.
Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
Spread about ½ Tablespoon of pizza sauce, a sprinkle with shredded mozzarella, and one slice of pepperoni on half of each disc. Fold each disc in half, and place folded side down in the prepared loaf pan. Continue with each disc until all of the discs are in the pan, moving things around if necessary. Do not worry about aesthetics.
½ cup (113g) pizza sauce, ½ cup (56g) shredded mozzarella, 5 ounces thinly sliced pepperoni
Drizzle olive oil on top, then sprinkle grated Parmesan and remaining Italian seasoning on top. I sprinkled a little extra shredded mozzarella on top, too. Cover loaf with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise at room temperature for about 30-45 minutes.
1 Tablespoon (15mL) olive oil, 3 Tablespoons (17g) grated Parmesan cheese
When you are ready to bake the bread, set the rack to the middle position in the oven and preheat it to 350ºF (177ºC). Bake the loaf for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack at least 15 minutes before turning out and serving. Loaf can be served warm or room temperature, and we enjoyed ours with additional pizza sauce for dipping. Leftovers stay fresh, covered tightly in the refrigerator, up to 5 days. Loaf freezes well, up to 3 months. Wrap tightly. Thaw in refrigerator overnight.

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition Disclosure