PizzaBons

If you find yourself facing turkey glut on the weekend after Thanksgiving, try PizzaBons. Similar to those huge mall cinnamon rolls, these have cheese and pepperoni instead of sugar and cinnamon.

Simply roll out your favorite bread dough, or you may use frozen dough, add pepperoni and cheese and whatever other pizza ingredients you prefer, roll it up, slice and bake.

I used this bread recipe:

4 cups unbleached flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp honey
1 cup water, warm (100-110F)
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1-1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, yeast, honey and warm water. Beat on low speed of electric mixer, using paddle attachment (may also be done manually). Add yogurt, vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of remaining flour; beat until smooth. Change to dough hook and gradually stir in more flour until you have a soft dough that sticks together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding additional flour if necessary to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, or about 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down and place on lightly floured surface. Using rolling pin, roll into a large rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick. Mine was about 24 inches by 16 inches; size will vary.

Add to rolled out dough:
Spread 1/4 cup melted butter (optional)
Sliced pepperoni
Any combination of shredded or grated cheeses
Sprinkle of Italian seasoning and/or garlic powder
Your favorite pizza toppings, such as fresh or sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes
Grated parmesan cheese

Lightly press ingredients into the dough, then roll up dough, jelly-roll style, pinching edges to seal. Cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch slices, then place cut-side up onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper or Silpat.

Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake in preheated 375 to 400 degree oven (depending on the calibration of your oven) until golden brown.

Serve with buttermilk ranch dressing or marinara sauce as dipping sauce.

Cream Sherry Pumpkin Bread

Beth Hensperger's Bread Bible is one of those books that inspires me to use an entire box of Post-It flags. Each turn of the page brings a new recipe to challenge or an old recipe with a different twist.

One such recipe is her version of pumpkin bread made with cream sherry. There are so many recipes for pumpkin bread that I usually skip past one listed in a cookbook. But the words Cream and Sherry made this one sound decadent, and I knew I must make it. For research purposes. For my bakery. OK, for myself!

I had to sub dry sherry, but the resulting bread was so good that I ran out and bought a bottle of cream sherry so I can try the recipe with the correct liquid ingredient. I actually stood in the liquor store calculating how many loaves I could make with a 1.5L bottle.


Just as sherry enhances the flavor of savory foods, the sweet earthiness of the pumpkin was intensified so that it was more than just a "pumpkin plus sugar" bread. I selfishly changed up the spices, which include cinnamon, cloves, and coriander, to suit my own palate. I dusted the loaf pan with granulated sugar to make a sugar-crunchy crust.

Although the recipe is copyrighted, you can find a list of the ingredients here on RecipeZaar.