Pepperoni & Hot Honey Pizza

I've discovered the most perfect pepperoni in the world. Introducing, Hormel Cup n' Crisps. Out of all the different kind of pepperoni meats I've tried with making pizza, this one is by far my favorite. They curl up so nicely into the perfect little cup to hold one of my other favorite pizza toppings of all time - spicy hot honey.

What you need:

• 2 cups of bread flour
• 1 tsp dry active yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup room temp water but remove 1 tbsp of it before adding to flour
• 1 tbsp butter for greasing the pan
• 1 cup your fave pizza sauce
• 1 cup low moisture thick shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 (5 oz) package of Hormel Pepperoni Cup n' Crisp
• Spicy honey or you can use regular honey and red pepper flakes

What to do: 

1. Add the flour, yeast and salt to a stand mixer and combine with a few turns of the dough hook. Add the water and mix on the lowest setting with the dough hook until a ball forms. Let that rest for 10 minutes.
2. On the lowest speed setting, knead the dough with the dough hook for 10 minutes - the dough shouldn’t be sticking to the sides, only the bottom of the bowl.
3. It should be kinda sticky unlike pasta dough, and silky. Remove the hook from the kneaded dough and set the dough in the bottom of the stand mixer bowl. Cover tightly and let rest for 2 hours in a warm place.
4. Spread a tablespoon of room temp butter all over a 9x13 baking sheet.  Then spread out the dough. (It shouldn’t stretch all the way to the edges just yet, so do the best you can and then cover the dough in the baking sheet with saran wrap and let it rest for 30 more minutes.
5. Preheat your oven to 550° F or as high as it can go. (Mine only goes to 525° F)
6. After the dough relaxes for the 30 extra mins, spread it all the way to the edges and make sure it’s evenly distributed.
7. Coat the pizza dough with a thin layer of your fave pizza or marinara sauce. Cover with cheese, all the way to the edges. (All the way to the edges is important for crisping the crust because the cheese melts and seeps down to crisp it all the way to the bottom of the pan.)
8. Add a few additional dollops of pizza sauce to the on-top of the cheese, I do around 8-10 randomly but evenly distributed.
9. Since the Hormel Cup n' Crisp pepperonis curl up so well, they will shrink in size, so it's important to use the whole packet of them to line the pizza. Overlapping is encouraged, and it should look overcrowded but don't worry it'll turn out perfect!
10. Cook the pizza on the very bottom of the oven (not the rack, the actual oven) for 6 minutes. This achieves a crispy bottom crust! After the 6 minutes, move it up to the next level and lowest rack of your oven. This will finish off the melty cheese and crips up the pepperonis while preventing the bottom of the pizza crust to burn or blacken.
11. Once you take it out of the oven, drizzle with either hot honey or regular honey and spicy red pepper flakes. Let it cook for a few minutes and the carefully transfer it to a cutting board to slice up and serve!