These Sourdough Pepperoni Cheese Sticks are a fun twist on an old favourite of mine! Where I grew up, at our local grocery store, they had fresh baked pepperoni cheese sticks. If you got there early enough they were still warm, and it was our favourite snack to grab. Now I have heard them called Pepperoni Rolls, West Virginia Rolls, and Pepperoni Cheese Buns, whatever you want to call them- they are great!
Every year we get about 50lbs of venison meat, made into pepperoni from a local butcher. I love a higher protein snack for my kids and these are just a fun way to dress them up. The best part- I use my regular sourdough pizza crust recipe for the dough, and it’s a simple same day sourdough recipe. They freeze amazing, so you can have them on hand for lunches, road trips, camping trips & more. The flavour of the sourdough with the cheese & pepperoni is hard to beat!
What you’ll need:
- Mixing Bowl
- Dough Whisk or Wooden Spoon
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients:
- Flour
- Salt
- Milk
- Water
- Sourdough Starter; Active or Flat (Check out how to make your own Sourdough Starter here!)
- Olive Oil
- Sugar
How to make the Sourdough Pepperoni Cheese Sticks?
Start by warming your 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup milk, until it is warm to the touch. Pour into your mixing bowl, and add your 2 tbsp sugar, and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Mix them together well, and then add 1/2 cup of sourdough starter. The activity level of your sourdough starter plays an important role in your timeline for this dough. If your sourdough starter is flat or “discard”, your dough will need to leave it to proof for the full 6 hours, I like to place mine in a warm spot in my house. If your starter is bubbly and active, then you can often shorten this to the 4 hour mark. This timeline is super flexible for longer proofing if needed.
Mix the sourdough starter in very well, and then it is time to add dry ingredients. For this recipe I am using all-purpose flour, I have used fresh milled whole wheat, and store bought whole wheat as well, they both work but the dough will be a touch denser.
Start by adding 2 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt. Mixing until a shaggy dough comes together, as you mix add small amounts of flour until you can handle your dough enough to knead it.
Dump dough out onto a clean lightly floured surface. Begin kneading, adding bits of flour as you work the dough, if it is sticky. Knead dough for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. If you have a stand mixer, you can use it to knead your dough!
Once your dough is smooth, place it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place to proof for 4-6 hours.
Once your dough has been left to proof, it is time to prepare for rolling your sourdough pepperoni cheese sticks! This dough is not one that really doubles in size, it will rise more if the sourdough starter was active, but it is a flatter style dough. Shred about a cup of cheese, and cut your pepperoni sticks to desired lengths. I like to do about 4″ sticks, but you can do longer or shorter! Sometimes little mini ones are perfect for little kids!
Now alternatively, you can just use this as a pizza crust recipe as well! If you are wanting to do that- Divide the dough in half, roll out each piece, & top with your favourite toppings and bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes!
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Place dough on a clean work surface, I don’t usually need to flour my work surface, but you definitely can. Roll the dough out to about 1/2″ thick, and place pepperoni sticks evenly along the dough. I usually get about 8-10, this will all depend on the length of your sticks and how thin you roll out your dough.
Cut dough with a sharp knife in a rectangle shape around the pepperoni, leaving enough dough on all sides to roll it around, covering the pepperoni. I don’t like the dough to be too thick, so I leave just enough to be able to pinch it together.
Once all your pepperoni sticks are all wrapped in dough, place them on a lined baking sheet & top with cheese. I like to press the cheese into the dough gently, so that it stays put and doesn’t slide off when melting. You can do as little or as much cheese as you want, mine usually works out to 2 tbsp of shredded cheese per stick.
Time to bake: Place pepperoni cheese sticks in your oven on the middle rack, and bake for 15-17 minutes. Until the edges start to golden, & cheese is melted & bubbling!
When they are done, remove from the oven and place on cooling rack. Enjoy once cooled!
Storage Notes:
Store these in a sealed container in the fridge for a few weeks, or in the freezer for a couple months. Just ensure they have completely cooled before transferring them into a sealed container or bag for storage.
Sourdough Pepperoni Cheese Stick
Ingredients
- ½ cup warm water
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup sourdough starter can be flat to active
- 2-2 ½ cup flour
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese any type of cheese will work
- 8-10 pepperoni sticks cut to about 4 inches.
Instructions
- In a sauce pan or in the microwave, heat your water until it is warm to the touch.
- In your mixing bowl, add water, milk, olive oil & sugar. Mix well
- Add your sourdough discard, and mix.
- Next, add 2 cups of your flour & salt.
- Work until a shaggy dough forms.
- Dump dough out onto a clean floured work surface, and knead. Adding in more flour as needed, if the dough is too sticky.
- Once you have kneaded for a couple of minutes, and dough has become smooth, place dough into lightly oiled bowl.
- Cover bowl and allow to proof for 4-6 hours, in a warm spot. This timeline will vary depending on the state of the sourdough starter you used. If it was flat discard, you will want to leave it for 6 hours, if it was active and bubbly you can shorten the proof closer to 4 hours.
- Once dough has been left for 4-6 hours, preheat your oven to 350℉.
- Grate 1 cup of cheese, and get pepperoni sticks ready (I like using about 4" sticks)
- Take dough out of your bowl, and roll it out, into a rectangle. You want it to be about 1/2 inch thick.
- Evenly space pepperoni sticks on dough, and cut dough into rectangle around each pepperoni stick, leaving enough dough so that you can roll it around the stick.
- Place them on a baking tray, and top with cheese. I like to press the cheese onto them a bit so that it stays in place.
- Bake for about 15-17 minutes, until they start to lightly golden on the edges.
- Cool & enjoy!
