You Can Go Home Again - Pizza Bread

Tonight I had 13 people over for a discussion group kind of thing. With that many people, I couldn't easily do a full dinner (and I'm feeling lazy), so I did what my mom did when she had people to feed and didn't want to do the table thing. I made Pizza Bread. I should also note that this is one of my absolute favorite foods on the planet. But I don't eat it very often. And I'm not sure why. Because it is delicious. And easy. Very easy.

Menu

• Hors d'oeuvres: Fresh ricotta, olives, olive tapenade, sopressata and grapes
• Pizza bread
• Congo Bars and 7-Layer Bars

Pizza Bread
Serves about 6 people (I made 2 for 13 people and wish I had made a third, though most of it would have been left-over (but this is really, really good left-over))

2 ½ cups unsifted flour
1 ½ tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 pkg yeast
1 cup hot tap water
2T oil
16 oz (4 cups) of grated mozzarella cheese
3 oz thinly sliced pepperoni
1 ½ onions (diced)
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

1. Mix 1 cup flour, sugar, salt and yeast together
2. Add water and oil
3. Beat 1 minute on low (I just mixed by hand)
4. Stir in flour for a soft dough
5. Knead 8-10 minutes (I usually do about 5)
6. Place in a greased bowl (I just use the one that I was mixing in, without cleaning it out), Cover and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes)
7. Punch down, roll out to a rectangle (maybe 20 inches by 8 inches)
8. Cover with the cheese, add the layer of onions, and season with oregano, salt and pepper
9. Place the pepperonis one at a time across the dough
10. Jelly roll it and put it seam side down on a cookie sheet
11. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (until nicely browned)
12. Let sit for 15-20 minutes (you can eat sooner, but the cheese ends up everywhere)

One thing to note - I'm not at all sure where this recipe/idea came from, but I was struck by the Pepperoni rolls that the NY Times discovered in West Virginia recently.