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Pepperoni and Veggie Pull-Apart Pizza

Source of Recipe

From "The Harvest Baker" by Ken Haedrich


Recipe Introduction

"Part pizza, part monkey bread (or pull-apart bread), this informal loaf goes great with your favorite Italian dishes or whole-meal salads, and it makes a fine snacking loaf, too, on its own or with individual bowls of tomato sauce for dipping. In case you've never made one before, it's called a 'pull-apart' bread because the dough is divided into lots of smaller pieces, like irregular rolls, instead of being baked in one solid loaf. The pieces pull apart easily, and in this case with bits and pieces of sautéed vegetables and cheese attached. This is another loaf kids love to help with, especially with shaping the dough and coating it with butter and cheese."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ Food Processor Pizza Dough or Hand Method Pizza Dough
â—¦ 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for the pan
â—¦ ½ large onion, finely chopped
â—¦ ½ bell pepper, finely chopped
â—¦ 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
â—¦ 1 ½ cups halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
â—¦ Salt and freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
â—¦ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
â—¦ 1 to 1 ¼ cups finely grated Parmesan cheese
â—¦ 1 cup diced pepperoni
â—¦ 1 ½ cups grated mozzarella cheese


Recipe

Prepare the pizza dough and set it aside to rise. Meanwhile, oil a 13- by 9-inch cake pan liberally with olive oil.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and bell pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cherry tomatoes; season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes; you want to soften the tomatoes but not turn them into sauce. Stir in the rosemary and remove from the heat.

Put the melted butter and Parmesan in separate shallow bowls in your work area. Put your oiled pan nearby, too. When the dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it onto a floured work surface. Knead for 1 minute. Using a dough scraper or knife, cut off small pieces of dough and roughly shape them into golf ball-size rounds. They don't have to be perfectly sized or shaped.

Dip the balls in the butter and then roll them in the Parmesan, coating lightly. Place all the dough pieces in the pan, somewhat randomly but more or less evenly spaced. Scatter the pepperoni over and between the pieces of dough, followed by the cooked vegetables. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm, draft-free spot for about 30 minutes, until the dough has swollen quite a bit. Preheat the oven to 375° F.

When the dough looks pretty much doubled (it will be hard to tell with the topping), bake for 30 minutes. Slide out the pan and sprinkle the bread with the mozzarella. Bake for another 10 minutes, until the mozzarella is melted and the rolls are golden brown. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Then remove the rolls and serve as soon as possible. Refrigerate leftovers. Reheat leftovers, wrapped in foil, in a 300° F oven for about 10 minutes.

Makes 8 or more servings