Homemade Pepperoni Recipes

HOMEMADE PEPPERONI

Steps:

• Place meat in a mixing bowl.
• Add pepperoni seasoning and mix.
• Dissolve cure in¾ cup water. Add liquid smoke and red pepper flakes to water as well, if using.
• Add cure mixture to meat.
• Mix by hand, adding more water 1 teaspoon at a time, until the mixture is sticky enough to stick to inverted hand.
• Place the mixture into a sausage stuffer (like this one or this one) and stuff into casings following the sausage stuffer's instructions. Or, follow the instructions above or here for making sausage without special equipment. You'll want to make your cylindrical meat shapes about 1 and ½ inch in diameter and about 12 inches long.
• Refrigerate the sausages (whether in casings or in plastic wrap+foil) in a single layer for 24 hours to allow the cure to properly penetrate and for the shape of the sausage to set.
• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Carefully remove foil and plastic wrap from tubes of meat if you used them instead of casings. Carefully lay the cylinders of meat, or your casings stuffed with meat, on an oven-safe rack placed over a baking sheet.
• Put into the oven and bake until meat reached an internal temperature of 160°F on an instant read thermometer (like this), 45-60 minutes.
• Take out of oven and let cool.
• Slice and enjoy.

HOMEMADE PEPPERONI

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Separately grind pork and beef through the coarse disk.
• Mix meats together with salt, sugar, cayenne, paprika, anise seed, garlic, red wine, ascorbic acid, and saltpeter in a large bowl.
• Spread mixture out on a large pan, cover loosely with waxed paper, and cure in refrigerator for 24 hours.
• Start with about 4 feet of casing. It's better to begin with too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.
• Rinse casing under cool running water to remove any salt stuck to it.
• Place casing in a bowl of cool water and let soak for about 30 minutes.
• After soaking, rinse casing under cool running water. Slip 1 end of the casing over faucet nozzle. Hold casing firmly on nozzle, and turn on cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully. This will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks. Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of casing.
• Place casing in a bowl of water and add white vinegar; a tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient. The vinegar softens casing and makes it more transparent, which makes pepperoni look better. Leave casing in water-vinegar solution until ready to use. Rinse well and drain before stuffing.
• Stuff sausage into casings and twist off into 10-inch links.
• Using cotton twine, tie 2 separate knots between every other link, creating pairs of links. Cut between the double knots. ​
• Tie a string to the center of each pair to hang sausages. Hang pepperoni to dry in a space that is 50 F to 55 F with 75 to 80 percent humidity for six to eight weeks. Once dried, the pepperoni will keep, wrapped, in the refrigerator for several months.

PEPPERONI PIZZA

Steps:

• In bread machine pan, place the first eight ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1-2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). , When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 14-in. circle. Sprinkle a greased 14-in. pizza pan with cornmeal. Transfer dough to prepared pan. , Combine spaghetti sauce and sugar if desired; spread over dough. Top with the pepperoni, tomatoes, onion, cheeses and Italian seasoning. , Bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

HOMEMADE PEPPERONI PIZZA

Steps:

• For sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients with 1/2 cup water in a medium bowl; set aside for flavors to develop while making crust. Freeze remaining paste .
• For crusts: Combine 2 cups of flour with the dry yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and oil and mix until well blended (about 1 minute). Gradually add enough remaining flour slowly, until a soft, sticky dough ball is formed.
• Knead for about 4 minutes, on a floured surface, until dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour, if needed. (If using RapidRise® Yeast, let dough rest, covered, for 10 minutes.)
• Divide dough in half. Pat each half (with floured hands) into a 12-inch greased pizza pan OR roll dough to fit pans.
• For pizzas: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Top crusts with sauce, pepperoni and cheese.
• Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until crusts are browned and cheese is bubbly. For best results, rotate pizza pans between top and bottom oven racks halfway through baking.

HOMEMADE SPICY PEPPERONI

Steps:

• Combine seasonings and meat and mix thoroughly, using hands; cover and refrigerate for 48-72 hours.
• Form meat into two long logs or rolls. Place a rack (or pan/sheet with drainage) on a cookie sheet and put the logs onto rack. Bake at 200 degrees for 8 hours, rotating logs every 2 hours.
• Logs will be a bright pink when they are finished, and should be fairly dry and firm. Wipe off excess grease and allow meat to cool. Chill and then slice thinly. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for longer storage.

PEPPERONI

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients, mixing until thoroughly blended.
• Divide in half into slender rolls about 1 1/3 inch in diameter.
• Wrap in plastic or foil.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• Unwrap and bake on broiler pan at 200 F for 4 hours.
• Store wrapped in the refrigerator.