Pizza Monkey Bread

This beautiful creature graced the cover of Cook's Country Magazine a few months ago.  Since then it has been staring my down from the coffee table daring me to undertake the recipe.

As with most Cook's Country recipes, there are plenty of steps to follow.  There isn't anything particularly challenging about the steps, but this is definitely more involved than making a regular pizza.  That is meant to just be a heads up, not to frighten you.

Pizza Monkey Bread
From Cook's Country Magazine

Ingredients
2 balls of pizza dough
4 oz pepperoni, sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp dried oregano
8 mozzarella sticks

1. Roll out each dough ball into a 10 by 6 inch rectangle onto a floured surface.  Let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Microwave pepperoni for a minute to render it's fat.  Remove pepperoni from its container.  Mix pepperoni juice with olive oil**.  Use  this mixture to grease your bundt pan. Combine Parmesan and oregano in a small bowl.
3.  Roll dough into larger rectangles (18x9 inches).  Starting 2 inches from the long end of the rectangle, line up half of your pepperoni slices. Lay 4 mozzarella sticks on top.  Sprinkle half of the Parmesan mixture alongside mozzarella.  Roll dough tightly, pinching ends to seal.  Repeat with other dough.
4.  Cut each log in half, pinch ends. Cut each half into thirds, pinching the ends.  Place a layer of dough balls into prepared pan.  Brush tops with oil.  Layer remaining balls, brushing with oil each time.  Let rise for 30 minutes.
5.  Cook in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes in pan, 10 minutes more on the serving platter.  Serve with your choice of tomato sauce.

**I am not a fan of pepperoni so I did not flavor my oil with it's rendered fat.  Instead I heated the olive oil with oregano and garlic and used that to brush my dough balls and pan with.  I did put some pepperoni into a few of my dough balls to please my hubby.

Nom-nom-nom!!

Check out that gooey cheesy inside! Yum!

Pizza monkey bread is the perfect dinner in front to the TV meal.  Make sure you have a nice bowl of marinara for dunking!