Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Buns, Perfect Tear & Share Pizza

So, what do you do when you really love pizza and cinnamon buns? Make a delicious hybrid of both, of course! I present to you – pepperoni pizza buns.

This may be the ultimate savoury tear and share bun recipe. I knew as soon as I thought of this that it would work wonderfully. Soft and fluffy dough wrapped around a nice homemade pizza sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella. All you need is a cold beer and dinner is sorted.

I decided to make the dough with a sponge which is a quick preferment. It gives the bread an amazingly soft texture. And the preparation times does not extend because of it, as after adding the rest of the ingredients to the preferment it does start fermenting quite rapidly.

The preferment will make up most of the final dough and since it will be at room temperature it is important to chill down the flour for the main dough to prevent the final dough temperature getting too high. I refrigerated my flour overnight in a bowl covered with clingfilm to prevent it taking on moisture. You can place it in the freezer to get the temperature down quicker.

You can fill the dough with whatever you prefer. But make sure that any sauce that you use is not too runny to avoid making a mess. That is why the sauce I show in the video is cooked for a while to reduce it down and make it nice and thick.

I made my sauce a day ahead of time and kept it in the fridge. You can make your sauce at the same time as the dough to save time. Or you can use store bought sauce, I won’t judge.

This recipe makes 12 decently sized buns, enough for 3 greedy people.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the preferment (sponge) –

100g (3.5oz) strong white bread flour

6g (0.2oz) instant dry yeast or 7.2g (0.25oz) active dry yeast or 18g (0.6oz) fresh yeast

230g (8.1oz) water at around 19C (66F) if your kitchen is around 22 – 24C (72-75F) *

*To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

For the main dough –

300g (10.6oz) strong white bread flour, chilled*

8g (0.28oz) salt

30g (1oz) olive oil

*To learn more about dough temperature when using a preferment click here.

For the sauce –

200g (7oz) good quality tinned tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2g (0.07oz) salt

10g (0.35oz) olive oil

Oregano to taste

Fillings –

200g (7oz) pepperoni, chopped

200g (7oz) mozzarella, grated

More olive oil to brush the buns before baking

Method

1. Make the sauce. In a small pan on medium-high heat cook the chopped garlic in olive oil stirring occasionally for around 2 minutes or until the garlic starts browning. Add the salt, oregano, and tinned tomatoes. Turn the heat down to medium and keep cooking for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Blitz the sauce with a blender and leave to cool down completely. If you do not have a blender, then you can keep it chunky.
2. Make the preferment. In a bowl combine the water, yeast, and flour. Mix well until there are no lumps. Cover and ferment for 45 minutes. The sponge should be light and airy like foam.
3. Add the salt and olive oil to the sponge. Mix it well to dissolve any large salt crystals. Add the flour and mix to a dough.
4. Tip the dough out on your table and knead for around 6 minutes. *Desired dough temperature 25 – 26C (77-79F). If your dough is warmer, then it will ferment more rapidly. If it is cooler, then it will take longer. Adjust proofing time accordingly.
5. Ferment for 1 – 1.5 hours or until it doubles in size.
6. Roll the dough out to a large rectangle. Try and make it nice and straight. Spread the sauce over it evenly leaving an edge at the top. Sprinkle on the pepperoni and mozzarella in even layers. Press the fillings into the dough using the palms of your hands.
7. Roll the dough up tight. Brush the top edge with water and seal the roll up.
8. Brush it with olive oil all over. This will make the tearing and sharing experience better by preventing the buns from fusing together.
9. Slice off the end pieces as they are mostly empty. You can bake them separately. Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces.
10. Lay the buns out on a non-stick paper lined tray leaving little gaps between them.
11. Cover and ferment for 1.5 hours. Leave them to puff up properly as this will dictate the final texture. *During the final hour of fermentation preheat your oven to 170C (340F) fan on.
12. Brush the buns lightly with olive oil. Bake for around 25 – 30 minutes.

Enjoy whilst warm and fresh and check out some more of my delicious recipes while you are devouring these buns ?

Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.

Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.