Soft Italian bread baked around whole-stick or sliced pepperoni and provolone, eaten warm from the bakery counter. A Strip District grab-and-go staple of Appalachian-Italian origin.

The pepperoni roll spread from the West Virginia coalfields into western Pennsylvania's Italian bakeries, where pepperoni and cheese are baked inside a soft bread roll. In Pittsburgh's Strip District, Jimmy & Nino Sunseri became famous for an oversized two-pound version stuffed with house pepperoni, mozzarella and provolone. The rolls are sold warm from bakery counters as a portable lunch with deep Appalachian-Italian roots.

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Make it at home

Serves 62 hr 30 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g bread flour
  • 300ml warm water
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 10g salt
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 150g sliced pepperoni
  • 150g shredded provolone or mozzarella

Method

  1. Mix flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and oil into a soft dough; knead 8 minutes.
  2. Rest covered 90 minutes until doubled.
  3. Divide into 6 pieces and flatten each into a rectangle.
  4. Lay pepperoni and cheese down the centre of each and roll up, sealing the seam.
  5. Place seam-side down on a tray and rest 30 minutes.
  6. Bake at 190C (375F) for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.
  7. Cool slightly and eat warm, when the cheese is still soft.

Editor tip. Seal the seam well and bake seam-side down so the cheese does not leak out as it melts.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy.