Friday night is pizza night!

We used to have a tradition that every Friday night was pizza night. Now I find it's generally Friday night but could also be Saturday night, Tuesday night--pretty much any night I don't feel like cooking and pass a Little Caesar's pizza on the way home. Once in a while I make homemade pizza using my favorite focaccia recipe topped with pizza cheese and pepperoni instead of mozzarella and parmesan, but thanks to Suzanne over at MomDot I may need to try something new. Her recipe for Pepperoni Rolls made my mouth water the first time I saw it!

Suzanne's Pepperoni Rolls
1/3 of a batch of Suzanne's pizza dough
1/2 pound sliced pepperoni (sandwich size is recommended, but this can be done with the small slices)
8 oz mozzarella, shredded
2 oz asiago or parmesan cheese, shredded
olive oil
Granulated garlic
Marinara sauce (about 1/2 cup total)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a well floured surface roll out pizza dough into a rectangle until it is about 1/8″ thick. Pour about two tablespoons of olive oil on the dough, spread, then sprinkle generously with granulated garlic.

Along the wider side of the rectangle, layer your pepperoni slices, slightly overlapping each slice. Leave about 1/4″ of exposed dough at either end. When you have covered the dough completely with pepperoni, spread the mozzarella out on top, then sprinkle with the asiago/parmesan cheese.

Using both hands, gently roll the wide side into a pinwheel. Transfer onto a very lightly greased cookie sheet, then generously coat with olive oil (this gives it a nice, crisp crust) and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then slice at 1/2 inch increments. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping. Makes one 9 to 10 inch roll, which serves 3 to 4 people.

"Pizza is a lot like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good." ~Anonymous

First image by muckingfajic, shared via Flickr.
Second image by Suzanne from "Tasty Thursday-Calzones and Pepperoni Rolls, Oh My!"