Loaded Pizza Pie Topped With Pepperoni Swirls
Italian food is just great – we can never get enough of it! We're such fans that, rather than going cross-cultural, we decided to make a fusion dish within Italy's wide-ranging culinary repertoire. This recipe combines 2 Italian favorites, pizza and bolognese sauce, for a loaded deep-dish pizza pie. The homemade pizza dough crust gets baked first, then it's topped it with a thick, creamy Italian sausage meat sauce and shredded mozzarella. This pie even goes the extra mile, finishing off its layers of Italian perfection with freshly-baked pepperoni pizza swirls. There's not much more good stuff we could possibly pack into this very deep dish!
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
You'll Need:
For the pizza dough:
- 4 cups flour
- ½ tsp dry yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1¼ cups lukewarm water
For the sausage bolognese sauce:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 12 oz ground Italian sausage
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green bell peppers, chopped
- ¾ cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp oregano
- salt & pepper
For the pepperoni pizza swirls:
- 15 slices of pepperoni
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- whisked egg for the egg wash
For the assembly:
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 10-inch pie dish
- baking beans
Here's How:
1. Combine all of the ingredients for the pizza dough in a large bowl and knead everything by hand until a smooth dough forms. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise at room temperature for 1½ hours, preferably overnight for more pliable dough. Once the pizza dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out ½ of the pizza dough and line a 10-inch pie dish with the rolled out dough. Place a round piece of parchment paper on top of the pizza dough and pour baking beans on top to weigh it down. Transfer the pie dish to the oven and and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
2. For the bolognese sauce, heat olive oil in a pan and fry the ground Italian sausage. Once the Italian sausage has begun to cook, add the diced onions to the pan and fry until the onions become translucent. Add in the minced garlic, chopped bell peppers, oregano, salt, pepper, and tomato paste, and continue to stir until the bolognese sauce is cooked all the way through.
3. For the pepperoni pizza swirls, roll out the second half of the pizza dough into a rectangular shape. Top the rolled out dough with slices of pepperoni and 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella.
4. Whisk 1 egg for the egg wash and brush the egg wash over the edges of the rolled out dough. Roll everything up into a snug log.
5. Cut the log into even segments about ¼-inch thick.
6. To assemble the pie, take the crust out of the oven and sprinkle ½ cup of shredded mozzarella on top. Spoon ½ of the bolognese sauce on top of the mozzarella layer, then sprinkle with the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Spoon the remainder of the bolognese sauce on top of the second shredded mozzarella layer.
7. Arrange the pepperoni pizza swirls on top of the last layer of bolognese sauce until the pie dish is full. Brush the remainder of the egg wash over the top of the pepperoni pizza swirls. Transfer the pie dish dish back into the oven and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
This dish is the ultimate fusion of flavors and textures, all straight outta Italy! From the homemade crust to the meaty sauce, right down to the cheesy layers and the freshly-baked pepperoni swirls, this pizza pie is a loaded classic, jam-packed with savory deliciousness. Grab a slice or 2, and buon appetito!
Get the recipe for the Cheese-Stuffed Spiral Pizza featured in the bonus video.