Artisan Pepperoni Pizza

Create your own artisan pizza at home that's better than delivery, loaded with crispy pepperoni, sliced onions and fresh green bell pepper!

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Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Pizza

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Oven Pre-heat Time: 1

Servings: slices

Calories: 385kcal

Equipment

Home Oven set between 500-550℉
Baking Steel or Baking Stone or round, metal pizza pans; see notes in recipe below
Box Grater or Hand-Held Grater for shredding cheese
Wooden Rolling Pin
Pizza Peel see notes in recipe below
Pizza Wheel

Ingredients

¼ Recipe Artisan Pizza Dough Recipe see notes, or your favorite pizza dough
½ C. Marinara Sauce Recipe see notes (or your favorite jarred pizza sauce)
1-½ C. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Low Moisture, Grated
15 Pieces Thinly Sliced Pepperoni or however many you prefer
Sliced Fresh Veggies of your Choice bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc.
1 tsp. Pizza or Italian Seasoning

Miscellaneous Ingredients

All Purpose Flour for dusting (not included in the recipe)
Cornmeal for dusting the pizza peel before baking

Instructions

About an hour or so before you plan to bake your pizza, preheat your oven as high as it will go, 500-550℉. Place a baking steel (or high temperature baking stone, such as this one) onto a rack in the middle of the oven. This process will ensure that your baking surface will (as closely as it can) replicate a brick-oven.
A baking steel is a must have kitchen tool for pizza makers and bread bakers alike. We love this one by Brod & Taylor! Like a good cast iron pan, the more you use this steel and keep it seasoned, the better it'll be.
Generously sprinkle your pizza peel with cornmeal. The cornmeal will keep the dough from sticking to the board and make it easier to slide the pizza directly into your oven.
There are multiple types of pizza peels available, but here are a few of our favorites and why we love them!
Wooden Bamboo Pizza Peel: This one is pretty enough you could hang it on the wall as kitchen decor! It's one solid piece, easy to hold, and the angled base makes it easier to both slide the uncooked pizza into the oven as well as being able to slide under the pizza to rotate it while baking or remove it after it's fully cooked.
Stainless Steel Pizza Paddle: During the warmer months, we love baking pizza in the Big Green Egg in our outdoor kitchen. The long handle is a great safety feature as you are working with extremely hot temperatures, being able to distance yourself a little more from the source. The stainless-steel surface works really well transferring the uncooked pizza into the oven or onto the grill, so long as you use cornmeal or high-temperature parchment underneath the dough. It's also super easy to clean.
Sliding Pizza Peel: This kitchen tool is super cool! You can literally glide the uncooked pizza directly onto the hot pizza steel or stone by sliding the built-in handle, like a mini conveyer belt. The unique material is non-stick, so not only does it make getting the pizza into the oven easier, it's also a breeze to clean.
Gather all of your ingredients, including one prepared round of dough from my cold-fermented artisan pizza dough recipe and marinara sauce, along with freshly shredded mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza toppings.
Note: The recipe and amounts as provided will make 1-12" pizza. The pizza dough recipe itself yields 4 rounds of dough, so double the ingredients if making 2 pizzas.
Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Work the pizza dough into a circle, pressing out from the center. Press out any large air bubbles.
Next, stretch the dough using your hands. You can do this in one of two ways:
1) Pull and elongate the dough as one hand holds the top of the dough securely as you stretch the bottom section, and rotate as you go, moving a few inches around the dough until it has loosened some.
2) Place the dough beneath your knuckles, covering your hands, and stretch out from the center, rotating around the full circumference of the dough.
Once your dough has stretched some, place it back down onto your work surface and use a wooden rolling pin to roll out the dough to approximately 12" (the length of a standard ruler). The dough should be thin, but not transparent.
Place your dough onto your pizza peel. Add toppings, starting with a light layer of sauce, then cheese, seasonings and lastly, toppings. Make sure to leave a minimum of a 1" border around the outside of the pizza so that you have a proper outer crust.
Slide your prepared pizza directly onto your baking steel (or stone) in the preheated oven. The pizza should cook quickly, typically not longer than 10 minutes.
Use your pizza peel to carefully remove your baked and ready pizza from the oven, allow to cool before slicing.

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