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Halal-conscious recipe

Halal pepperoni pizza rolls

Soft tear-and-share pizza rolls filled with pizza sauce, mozzarella and basil, made with Halal beef pepperoni and a mozzarella whose rennet you have checked.

  • Cuisine American
  • Meal Snack
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield 8 rolls
  • Time 3h 35m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A pepperoni pizza with melted cheese on a wooden board
Photograph from our ingredient library: a pepperoni pizza, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Pannet · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why Halal checks matter here

Traditional pepperoni is pork, or pork mixed with beef; even all-beef pepperoni needs Halal-slaughtered, certified beef, and the mozzarella depends on its rennet.

These pizza rolls are a bread dough spread with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni, rolled up, sliced and baked together in one tin. The Halal question is the pepperoni: it is traditionally pork, or pork mixed with beef, and even beef pepperoni needs Halal-slaughtered, certified meat. The cheese is the second check.

This version follows Cassie Best's pepperoni pizza rolls for BBC Good Food, made with Halal beef pepperoni and a mozzarella labelled vegetarian or with a non-animal rennet. The same checks apply to any pizza.

The source suggests ready-made dough and sauce to save time. If you use them, read those labels too.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Pepperoni Traditional pepperoni is a cured sausage of pork, or pork mixed with beef. Even all-beef pepperoni is Halal only when the beef is Halal-slaughtered and certified. Use a pepperoni labelled Halal by a certifier you trust. When ordering pizza, ask what the pepperoni is made of. See Pepperoni and Pizza.
  • Mozzarella Cheese is set with rennet. Many UK mozzarellas are labelled vegetarian, while a label that says only 'enzymes' leaves the source open. Choose a mozzarella labelled vegetarian or with microbial or Halal-certified rennet. See Cheese.
  • Pizza sauce A jar of pizza sauce is a bought product with its own ingredient list. Read the jar, or make a simple tomato sauce instead.

Safe substitutes

  • Pork pepperoni → Halal-certified beef pepperoni
  • Mozzarella with unnamed enzymes → Mozzarella labelled vegetarian or with microbial or Halal-certified rennet

Allergens

gluten (flour), milk (mozzarella)

Ingredients

Dough

  • 450 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 5 g fast-action dried yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 300 ml tepid water
  • 2 tsp olive oil, plus extra for proving
  • 1 tbsp fine polenta or cornmeal

Filling

  • 175 g pizza sauce
  • 100 g grated mozzarella with no animal rennet (vegetarian, microbial or Halal-certified)
  • 75 g Halal-certified beef pepperoni (instead of pork pepperoni)
  • 1 small bunch basil, chopped

Method

  1. Make the dough. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and 2 tsp of the oil and mix to a dough. Knead for 10 minutes by hand, or 5 minutes with a dough hook, until smooth and elastic.
  2. Prove. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and leave in a warm place for 2 hours, or until roughly doubled. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight and bring it back to room temperature before shaping.
  3. Fill and roll. Line a 22 cm cake tin or ovenproof frying pan with a disc of baking parchment and scatter 1 tsp of the polenta over the base. Scatter the rest of the polenta and some flour over the work surface and roll and stretch the dough into a rectangle about 35 × 45 cm. Spread with the pizza sauce, then scatter over the mozzarella, Halal pepperoni and basil.
  4. Cut and prove again. Roll the dough up tightly from a long side into a sausage and cut it into eight pieces. Arrange them cut-side up in the tin, cover loosely and leave for 30 minutes until light and puffy.
  5. Bake. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and the cheese is oozing. Cool for 5 minutes before serving; they are best eaten within 24 hours.

How this recipe was researched

Method from BBC Good Food's 'Pepperoni pizza rolls' by Cassie Best (makes 8: a dough of 450 g strong white flour, 5 g yeast, 1 tsp sugar, 1½ tsp salt, 300 ml tepid water and 2 tsp oil, kneaded and proved 2 hours; rolled to 35 × 45 cm on polenta, spread with 175 g pizza sauce, 100 g grated mozzarella, 75 g pepperoni and basil, rolled up, cut into 8, proved 30 minutes in a 22 cm tin and baked at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for 30 to 35 minutes). We replaced the pepperoni with Halal-certified beef pepperoni and specified a mozzarella with no animal rennet. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Pepperoni pizza rolls — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Cassie Best. Makes 8, prep 30 minutes plus proving, cook 35 minutes: 450 g strong white flour dough proved 2 hours; rolled to 35 × 45 cm with 175 g pizza sauce, 100 g mozzarella, 75 g pepperoni and basil; cut into 8, proved 30 minutes, baked at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for 30 to 35 minutes.

  2. Pepperoni analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Pork, pork-and-beef and Halal beef pepperoni, and what to look for on the pack.

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