Double Pepperoni Garlic Pizza

Updated 10.3.2019.

Since I grew out of my cheese pizza phase (around age 20), pepperoni has by far been my favorite choice of topping. What’s a better way to make a pepperoni pizza? With two kinds of pepperoni and tons of garlic.

Baking this pizza will fill your kitchen with the delicious smell of garlic. Love it. If you’re not a huge fan of garlic, I would recommend only using one head of garlic (or possibly less). Garlic was definitely the overwhelming flavor on this pie though the crushed red chili flakes gave the pizza a slight kick. (Leave them off if you’re not a fan of spicy.)

One of the techniques I’ve taken to ensure a crispy pizza crust when baking with a pizza stone is to bake the crust beforehand (discussed below) for about 15 to 20 minutes and then flip the crust over to top the pizza. What I find tends to happen is that when I par-bake the pizza crust, the top gets brown, the bottom doesn’t. So once I start adding on the toppings, I’m topping a crispy crust with an undercooked bottom which results in an undercooked bottom when you pull out the pizza 30 minutes later. I’m not sure if this is a pizza stone thing or just my pizza stone. At any rate, flipping the crust over to top the pizza is the perfect solution. The bottom of the crust is perfectly crispy when you pull the finished pie out of the oven.

ingredients.

8 oz pizza dough
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 heads of garlic, minced
16 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
4 oz fontina cheese, shredded
8 oz sliced pepperoni
2 oz deli pepperoni, cut into chunks
dried oregano
crushed red chili flakes
parmesan cheese

directions.

Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a 16-inch round pizza pan with cooking spray.
Using flour (if necessary), begin to stretch the dough out into as large of a circle as possible. Place on the pizza sheet and work the dough at the edges using the heel of your hand to press and stretch toward the edge of the sheet. This will take a few minutes. Try to make the crust of the pizza as even as possible or you’ll have pockets of thicker chewy crust when the pizza is cooked.
Once the crust is stretched all the way to the edge of the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, minced garlic and olive oil (enough to lightly cover the crust). With the back of a spoon, spread the garlic around so that it’s evenly distributed. There should be a thin layer of garlic across the crust.
Pre-bake for eight to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
If necessary spread additional olive oil evenly over the pizza crust (I did because the crust looked slightly dry) and layer with cheeses, crushed pepper and oregano (to taste) and pepperoni. Freshly grate parmesan cheese on top if desired.
Place back in the oven and bake the pizza for 20 to 25 additional minutes or until edges of the pizza are beginning to brown and turn crisp.Remove from the oven and let sit for five minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Recipe rating: 