ReFocus: Pepperoni Bread

This is a repeat post, but making pepproni bread is an annual Christmas tradition for our family. Since I switched hosts and redsigned the blog, I figured I'd repost this for anyone who likes step by step instructions (the recipe is already on my recipe page:)

When I was little, every Christmas my mom would make loaves and loaves of pepperoni bread. In case you’re not familiar, it’s basically a stromboli rolled with pepperoni and provolone cheese.

I and my brothers (and so many others) were always so happy when we knew this was coming. Sure, there were Christmas cookies, but everyone made those. Pepperoni bread was special. Not every mom made that. And it’s so delicious! Not low fat, light or diet-friendly in any capacity, but damn tasty.

I used to help out by layering on the meet and cheese. I never got the hang of rolling out the dough until I was an adult and started making it myself. And mom would always do the rolling up of the loaves too.

As I entered adulthood and got married, I, of course, wanted to learn the fine arts of making my own gravy and meatballs and pepperoni bread myself. I never did fall in love with making my own gravy and ‘balls (I know; I’m a horrible Italian), but I do proudly carry on the pepperoni bread tradition. My kids love it and we’ve already scarfed down 2 full loaves.

I started out making 10 loaves each year, but by the time I gave a few away as gifts, there was little left to keep on-hand for entertaining and for us to enjoy ourselves. So I have since doubled my recipe. It’s not difficult, but it is labor-intensive. I usually set aside one evening and bang it all out at one shot. I thought I’d share the recipe with you all this year and offer some step-by-step pictorial instructions. Keep in mind, this is one of those recipes that has been handed down from mother to daughter for a few generations now. We learned more by doing than by following written instructions; so in many cases, measurements are approximate.

Karen’s Pepperoni Bread

(makes 20 loaves)

10 loaves frozen bread dough (thaw and rise according to package directions)

6 pounds pepperoni

(one pound will yield 4-5 loaves for me)

7 pounds provolone cheese

(one pound will yield 3-4 loaves for me)

9 large eggs flour

water rolling pin

locatelli cheese (romano) cookie sheets

minced garlic (about 3 or 4 cloves) non-stick tin foil

parsley cornmeal (optional)

salt

pepper

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Prepare your cookie sheets. Cover each sheet with non-stick tinfoil. You don’t have to use this, of course. You can use sil-pats or grease the sheets. But the non-stick stuff is some of the best tin foil ever invented. Nothing sticks to it. And then you have no clean-up either! (I use it for my cookies too.) I've started dusting each cookie sheet with some cornmeal; this is optional, but I really like the crispy crunch it adds to the cooked dough.

Make your egg wash. Crack the 9 eggs into a large measuring cup or bowl (one with a spout will be helpful). Beat the eggs and add enough water to total about 5 or 6 cups of liquid. Add the garlic, add about ½ cup of locatelli, and cover the top with parsley, salt and some pepper. (Maybe a tablespoon or two of parsley, a teaspoon of salt, and ½ tsp of pepper. Sorry; I largely go by how this mixture smells in the end.)

Take a loaf of dough and break it into two pieces. Generously sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough into a (rough) circle, maybe about 12 to 15 inches or so in diameter. Give a quick stir to the egg wash and pour some on the circles of dough; you want enough to cover the surface, coming to within about an inch of the edge.

Cover the dough with pepperoni, overlapping each piece slightly – again coming to within an inch of the edge. Layer the provolone next.

Pick an edge, and start rolling the dough up, jelly-roll style. Egg wash will more than likely drip out of the sides; this is okay. Once it’s rolled up, fold the edges under and use the egg wash to seal the dough around all the edges. Also coat the top of your loaf with egg wash; this will help it turn a nice golden brown. Place the loaves seam-side down on the prepared cookie sheet (I put 2 loaves on each sheet, diagonally). Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with some cornmeal and some locatelli.

Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, until they’re golden brown. I can easily put together 2 more loaves in the time it takes the first 4 to bake. I only have 4 cookie sheets, so I give them a few minutes to cool on the sheets, and then pull the loaves off on their tin foil onto my table to cool the rest of the way. Rinse and repeat. You’ll want to wipe any egg wash off your work surface between batches. Bake to your heat’s content or you run out of dough and lunch meat, whatever comes first!

Once they’re fully cooled, you can wrap these babies in tin foil and freeze them until you’re ready to eat them. I have thawed them in the fridge and at room temp on the counter; either works fine. We like to eat it straight out of the fridge, but you can heat it up if you like. The microwave makes it pretty greasy, so I suggest the oven or toaster oven.

Gather all your supplies. Rock out to some good tunes while you cook. Grab an apron, or a shirt you don’t care about as you’re likely to get some flour and maybe egg wash on you. Oh, and you’ll want to take off your rings so they don’t get coated and gummed up.

Make sure your dough is risen and ready to go. If you keep the lunch meat cold in between, it’s easier to peel and layer on.

Get ready to work those muscles. This can take the place of your arm work-out for the day! Be patient; it takes some effort to get it to stretch out into a circle. And don’t go too thin, or it’s more likely to break open in the oven.

Give the egg wash a shzoozsh to mix up the good stuff before your pour it on. I think this is the “secret ingredient” in our recipe. It makes it nice and moist and adds a lot of flavor because of the garlic and locatelli.

Don’t be stingy with the “guts.”

Roly-poly. Note the leaking egg wash. Use this to coat your loaves and seal the edges. If you’re lucky enough that none leaks, just dip your hands in the bowl to coat.