Editorial: Kockums JernverkPublished: 2026-11-06

Pepperoni pizza on a pizza steel

Name: Pepperoni pizza on a pizza steel
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 4 h
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 500 g tipo 00 flour or strong white bread flour; 325 ml lukewarm water; 10 g salt; 3 g fast-action dried yeast; 1 tbsp olive oil; Semolina for the peel; 400 g crushed tomatoes; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp dried oregano; ½ tsp salt; 250 g grated mozzarella; 100 g thinly sliced pepperoni; Fresh basil leaves

Makes 3 pizzas · 4 hours · Pizza peel

Pepperoni should curl into small crisp cups, and that takes a blazing hot pizza steel. A thin stainless steel peel makes it easy to launch the pizza onto the steel in one quick move.

Pepperoni pizza is tomato sauce, mozzarella and thinly sliced pepperoni on a thin base, baked until the slices curl into crisp cups. It is best baked on a pizza steel that has been preheated for a long time at full heat, using a peel dusted with semolina so the pizza slides off in one quick jerk.

Pepperoni pizza with tomato sauce, melted mozzarella and fresh basil on a stainless steel pizza peel with a wooden handle, on a wooden board in sunlight

Ingredients

Makes 3 pizzas

Dough

500 g tipo 00 flour or strong white bread flour
325 ml lukewarm water
10 g salt
3 g fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
Semolina for the peel

Tomato sauce

400 g crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt

Topping

250 g grated mozzarella
100 g thinly sliced pepperoni
Fresh basil leaves

Method

Mix the flour and yeast, add the water, oil and salt and knead to a smooth dough, about 10 minutes. Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour. Divide into 3, shape into balls and leave covered for another 2 hours.
Put the pizza steel on the second shelf from the top and preheat the oven to its highest setting, 250–275 °C, for at least 45 minutes. Stir together the sauce ingredients without cooking them.
Flour the worktop and press out a ball from the centre with your fingertips, leaving a rim. Stretch it to about 28 cm.
Dust the peel with a thin layer of semolina and lift the dough onto it. Work quickly from here: spread over 4 tbsp sauce, scatter over a third of the cheese and lay on the pepperoni. Give the peel a gentle shake; the pizza should slide freely.
Set the front edge of the peel at the back of the steel, tilt it slightly and pull the peel back with a short, firm jerk so the pizza lands on the steel.
Bake for 7–8 minutes until the crust is golden and the pepperoni has curled and crisped at the edges, switching on the grill for the last minute if you like. Lift the pizza out with the peel, scatter over basil and give the steel 5 minutes to reheat before the next one.

Why it works

The thin, bevelled front edge of the stainless steel peel slides under the pizza without tearing the dough, and its smooth surface releases easily with a little semolina. The pizza steel supplies the strong bottom heat that crisps the base before the pepperoni dries out.