Pepperoni Pizza Roll

"I think this is sexist isn't it?" my daughter asks.  Kate and I were in the kitchen making one of her favorite recipes while the menfolk are in the living room watching sports. 

Guess who was doing the dishes?  Not us.

I sometimes use a bread machine to make the dough, but sometimes it is pretty easy to just thaw out a roll of frozen bread dough.  The recipe originally came from Lora Brody's Pizza, Focaccia, Flat, and Filled Bread From Your Bread Machine.  This is a wonderful cookbook that uses a bread machine to make dough, but then you use that dough to make pizza, focaccia, filled breads, deep-dish pies, flatbreads, crackers, breadsticks, rolls, muffins, scones, sweet breads, dumplings, biscotti, and other desserts.  Here is the recipe for the dough if you'd like to make it in your bread machine, which somehow tastes yeastier.  (Is that a word?)

For the dough:
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all of the ingredients in the bread machine in the following order--water, olive oil, flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.  Program the machine for Manual, Dough, or Basic Dough, and press Start.  About 10 minutes before the end of the second knead, check the dough.  It should have formed a soft ball.

To finish the roll:

 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (This is Wisconsin--We double it.  Make it 16 ounces.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon coarsely-ground black pepper
6 ounces pepperoni slices, cut in halves or quarters

When the machine has finished its cycle, remove the dough, punch it down, and roll it out to a 26- by 18-inch rectangle.

In a small bowl, combine the mozzarella, Parmesan, beaten egg, and pepper.  Spread this mixture evenly over the surface of the dough.  Sprinkle the pepperoni atop the cheese mixture.  Starting with a long edge, roll the dough into a log.  Transfer the log, seam side down, to a lightly-greased pizza pan or jelly roll pan, curving it into a horseshoe shape.  Tuck the ends under.  Tent the dough with lightly-greased plastic wrap and set it aside to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk. 

Bake the roll in a preheated 350 degree F oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until it is golden brown.  Remove the roll from the oven and transfer it from the pan to a wire rack.  Let the roll cool for 20 minutes before slicing.