Bread Machine Pepperoni and Mozzarella Bread

Ingredients
23 cup pepperoni
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
13 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sugar
1 12 teaspoons garlic salt
1 12 teaspoons dried oregano
3 14 cups bread flour
1 12 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Instructions
1. Place two layers of paper towels on a microwave-safe plate.  Spread pepperoni out on paper towels and place two more layers of paper towels on top.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  (Do this in batches, if necessary.)  Dice pepperoni and set aside. 

2. Place all remaining ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions.  Select basic bread setting, medium crust, and 1 12 pounds for loaf size.  Press start.  (This recipe is not suitable for use with the delay timer.)

3. Just before second kneading cycle begins, add pepperoni.  (Or whenever your machine beeps at you to add nuts and other mix-ins.) 

4. When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Pepperoni Bread

Comments
A friend of mine mentioned that she was going to be making “pepperoni and cheese bread” in her bread machine and my ears immediately perked up, especially since I had quite a bit of pepperoni leftover from pizza-making earlier in the week.  I asked her for the recipe and she gave me the Recipe Zaar link.  Sure enough, I had all the ingredients, so it went into the machine that very day.  I did use the pepperoni degreasing trick that worked so well for the pizza and it worked just as well with the bread. 

The house smelled like pizza while this was baking and the taste was phenomenal.  This would make fantastic garlic bread, toast with butter, or even the base for a quick and easy English muffin-style pizza in the toaster oven.  I will definitely be making this whenever I have leftover pepperoni on hand!

(Please ignore the blade hole in the top slice of bread, I didn’t hear the “remove blade now” beep!)

Internet - Recipe Zaar