Pepperoni Pizza

When they hear the name "pepperoni pizza," Italians always are puzzled at first and then amused. Puzzled because the word peperoni (with one p) is the Italian for peppers, and the question comes natural: how could this word end up meaning something completely different, from a vegetable to a spicy pork sausage? Amusement comes when they wonder how many foreigners ordered a pepperoni pizza in Italy,receiving one with peppers topping.

Tools you will need

The best pepperoni pizza starts with the right tools. Make sure you have the following things available:

Baking tray. If you have an oven I assume you also have a large baking tray.

Parchment paper (baking paper). This is very useful to make sure the dough won't stick to the tray

Rolling pin (optional). Pizza makers use their hands to flatten the dough and give it a circular shape. Some even throw it in the air and make it spin. But we don't need to show anything to anybody, right? So feel free to use a rolling pin, it won't change the taste of your fabulous pepperoni pizza at all.

A bowl. The concept here is the same as for the rolling pin. If you want to do like the real chefs do, you are supposed to put all the flour on the working surface, make a hole in the middle and pour half the water and the yeast in there. The thing is, unless you know what you are doing, things can get messy, and you don't want to end up with water running out of the little pool, and around the working surface. So, again, there's no shame in using a bowl. Once all the ingredients have come together, and it's kneading time, you can get rid of it and pass to the working surface.

A sift: whenever you use flour to cook is always a good habit to sift it, as it will come out of the packet all compressed and with lumps. 

A small jug. This is for the liquid ingredients, A smaller bowl will do as well.

Ingredients for 4 people

If your intention is to do carbo-bingeing you can use double quantities. You don't want to count the calories in pepperoni pizza, right?

For the dough:

• 500g (4 cups) strong white flour
• 40g (1/3 cup - 1 ½ cup) fresh yeas, or the equivalent of dry yeast for the required amount of flour, according to the packet instructions
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 15g (1/8 cup) salt
• 15g (1/8 cup) sugar
• 240-250g (8 - 8½ fl oz) filtered water

For the topping:

• 2 cans of good quality tomato purée (in Italian it would be passata di pomodoro)
• a generous pinch of oregano
• 250-300g (about 10 oz) mozzarella cheese
• a pepperoni (spicy) sausage

Step 1: dry and liquid ingredients go separately. Sift the flour and salt in the bowl. In the other bowl put together yeast, water, olive oil and sugar, which is not a liquid, but it's a very good friend of yeast's (which means it helps its chemical reaction), whereas salt is not. For this reason, salt and yeast should get together at the very last minute.
Give the water and yeast a stir, stick it in the microwave for 40 seconds and give another stir. The water should be a bit more than lukewarm.

Step 2: put everything together. Make a well in the centre of the flour, and pour 3/4 of the water. Start stirring with a wooden spoon, then when everything has come together, use your hand(s). If the dough is too dry add the rest of the water (see next capsule for a more detailed explanation). When there is little or no loose flour in the bowl put everything on the working surface and start kneading. Stretch the dough using your wrist then fold it back. A good technique here is to turn it upside down before folding it, so the internal part of the dough will be in contact with the remaining flour on the working surface.

After kneading for 10 minutes the dough should be elastic enough. Now the main question will be: how dry/wet should the dough be?
The quantity of water given here is an average indication. Different types of flour absorb more or less water. If the dough is too dry you can add water, if it's too wet you can add flour. Ideally, it's always better to be in the position of adding water, as any extra flour will alter the balance of the dry ingredients.
But how do we know when the dough is wet or dry enough? My personal advice is: make it as wet as possible, it means that it should actually stick to the working surface, but come off straightaway. If you find it too hard to work, and pieces of dough remain stuck on the working surface, it means that it's too wet and you need to add flour. Do it one tablespoon at the time.

Step 3: rise. Now, it's time for some chemical reaction. The answer to the question "what's the ideal temperature for yest dough to rise?" is still a mystery to me. Leave it rise until in doubles in size, but a really cool thing that I have found out recently, which has taken my pepperoni pizza recipe to the next level is to prepare the dough 24 hours before and leave it in the fridge. Let it rest one hour before rolling it, to make it reach room temperature.

Step 4:prepare the topping. in different containers put the sliced mozzarella cheese, pour the tomato purée with a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano, and the sliced pepperoni. If you really want to do things properly, season the tomato purée, bring it to the boil in a frying pan and let it simmer for ten minutes.

Step 5: roll and shape. Preheat the oven at a very high temperature 430º F 220º C. Now it's rolling time, and it's your personal taste. Do you want a thin pepperoni pizza or do you like it thick? I prefer it thin, but it's up to you. Give it a round or a square shape, depending on how bad you need to use all the space in the baking tray.

Step 6a: the first ten minutes. Now, what usually do here is adding the tomato purée, and put it in the oven for ten minutes. The reason is that if I put the mozzarella from the start it will end up burn by the time the dough is baked. It probably has to do with my oven. If it'd the first time you are baking pizza with you oven I suggest you do the same. Better a half melt mozzarella than a burnt one. Be generous with the tomato.

Step 6b. the rest of the best. Take the half-baked pizza out of the oven and, as quick as possible, lay the mozzarella and the pepperoni slices on the dough and put it back in the oven. Wait for ten more minutes, then check it. It probably won't be ready yet, but it should be almost there. When the bottom of the pizza is solid enough, it's ready.