Pepperoni Rolls

I signed up for the March/April What's Cooking Recipe Exchange and was very silly to leave it until the last minute to make it... because tomorrow being the last day of the month meant there were already several deadlines (including posting the daring bakers challenge), so tonight was busy making this, Rosie's Great British Pudding Challenge as well as dinner (with a little extra for testing taste after reheating the day after for the upcoming Cook of the Year audition)

I was given the recipe that was sent in by someone in West Virginia: Pepperoni Rolls

I wasn't sure if I would like these because I'm not a big fan of pepperoni but hey it's good to try new things and be open minded. That said, I did make a batch of the bread recipe, so I adapted the final few steps of the recipe and split it into 8 and made 4 pepperoni rolls and 4 plain bread rolls just in case I didn't like it.... I just didn't want to waste good bread. I also don't have a dough mixer but used my hand mixer instead and it came out alright.

This was a great bread recipe by the way, quite easy to throw together and very tasty.



Pepperoni Rolls

Recipe 1
Easy Way: Buy a bag of frozen dinner rolls (I usually use Rhode's) and let them thaw. Pull them all apart. One at a time, flatten the rolls out using the palm of your hand until they form a flattened circle as much as you can make the dough stretch. Put between 5-8 pieces of pepperoni on the flattened out dough disk (you can also add cheese if you want). Fold over 2 of the edges, and then roll it up (similar to how you would a loaf of bread). Do this with all of the frozen rolls. Line up on a greased baking sheet & let raise until the desired size. (Let raise more if you want a lot of bread. I tend to just let mine go about 30 mins or so). Bake according to the directions on the bag.

Recipe 2 (Kitchen Aid's Basic White Bread recipe: Basic White Bread)

Makes 8 small rolls or 2 loaves

Ingredients
½ cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 packages active dry yeast (7g each)
1 ½ cups warm water (105˚F to 115˚F aka 40-45˚C)
5 cups all-purpose flour

Recipe
1. Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 ½ cups flour to the yeast. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.
3. Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be slightly stick to the touch.
4. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf, and place in greased 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½-inch baking pans, or spread out onto a floured surface and split into 8 equal sized portions. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
6. Bake at 400˚F (200˚C) for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.