These spicy pepperoni pinwheels are easy to make and really delicious. A fun twist for pizza night or any night!
Please note that prep time doesn't include the total of about 2 hours and 15 minutes of rising time.
Course Appetizers
Cuisine Italian-ish
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Time for Making Dough and Rising 2 hourshours15 minutesminutes
4Tablespoonsyour favorite marinara or pizza sauce(homemade or store-bought) plus more for dipping
4Tablespoonsfresh mozzarella chopped in very small pieces(you can also use shredded part-skim mozzarella, if you prefer.)
Instructions
For the Pizza Sauce
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add all the ingredients to your mixer in the order listed.
Turn on the mixer to low speed and mix until all the flour is incorporated.
Turn the speed up to medium-low to medium speed and knead until the dough is soft, smooth and very stretchy, about 10 minutes. The dough should completely clear the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Form the dough into a ball, put it back in the mixer bowl, brush it with some olive oil or spray with a bit of pan spray.
Cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Press the gases out the dough and divide into 12 even pieces of about 1 oz each.
On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 9" rope and then flatten it so you have a long, thin rectangle about 1" tall and 9" wide. It does not have to be perfect.
Spread about 1 teaspoon of marinara or pizza sauce all along the center of the strip of dough.
Place a whole slice of pepperoni at one end of the dough. The "bottom" of the pepperoni should be even with the bottom of the strip of dough. The top of the pepperoni should peek over the top of your dough rectangle.
Overlap 7-8 more slices of pepperoni by about 1/2 so you end up with a strip of dough covered by round shingles of pepperoni.
Scatter about 1 teaspoon of the minced up mozzarella along the bottom half of the pepperoni, then roll up the dough, jelly roll style, into a pinwheel. Place each pinwheel in the well of a muffin tin and cover with some plastic wrap.
Shape the rest of the pinwheels in the same fashion.
Spray with pan spray, cover and let rise in a warm place until just about doubled in size again, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F.
Bake in the center of the oven until golden brown and gorgeous, 20-25 mins. The internal temperature should be 200F-205F.
Let cool for a few minutes and serve warm with extra heated marinara/pizza sauce for dipping.