First… I love pepperoni pizza, and I mean lots of pepperoni–think Pepperoni’s Lovers at Pizza Hut. However, when I try to make it myself, I always wind up with lots and lots of pepperoni grease pooling in the pan. I’d prefer and try to make it in a pan because of the softer texture, but, how do you bake a relatively grease-free pepperoni pizza? A friend said something about baking in a special way so that the grease evaporates, but he didn’t know the details.
Second… you Atkins people should be familiar with the “Just the Cheese” rounds. Delicious cheese chips, but extremely expensive. Does anyone know how to make those? I’m guessing you chop up bits of Parmesean or another hard cheese, add spices, and bake it–and then sprinkle the sour cream/pizza/white cheddar/whatever flavoring afterwards–but would like to see if anyone’s done a relatively good job of imitating these chips.
Take some grated cheese (sharp cheddar is great) and put a layer of it on PARCHMENT PAPER (not wax paper) and then on a paper plate. Put it in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Don’t worry if it seems like it’s going to burn or explode, it won’t. When you take it out, let it sit and cool for a little bit. Once it’s cool enough to pick up (shouldn’t be long), pick up the disc and break it apart.
Once you’ve mastered cheese in the micro, I suppose you can then experiment with spices and whatnot. I bet garlic salt would be good.
I’ve never had "Just the Cheese"chips. Too expensive.
Oh and since you like pepperoni so much, you can also take those and microwave them. I haven’t tried that yet, but I bet it’s about a minute or so.
And to get really tied-in here, I like to take mozzarella cheese and put it on PARCHMENT PAPER in the micro for about 45 seconds, then put some pepperoni on it for another 30 seconds. Afterwards the cheese will be pliable and you can roll it up and dip it in sauce!
Definitely precook, drain, and sponge your pepperoni with a paper towel. That is unless you like it swimming in a huge pool of grease.
Incidentally, I don’t know about your Pizza Hut, but at ours the pepperoni grease is all absorbed by the crust (pan style). You have to be careful about what you set the box down on because the grease soaks through the crust and the box and gets on whatever you set it on. I’ve pretty much written off their pan style pizza for this reason.
I’ll second what others here have said, and recommend that you pre-cook the pepperoni a bit.
I’ve frequently made pizzas using reduced fat kielbasa as a topping, and I always place it on paper towels and zap it in the microwave before putting it on the pizza. I also blot it again with paper towels before placing it on the pizza to get rid of the fat that pools on top. There should still be just a little fat left in it which will ooze onto the pizza and help transfer the taste. (And I wholeheartedly recommend kielbasa as a pizza topping. It sounds strange, but it works well.)
I’ve never heard of “Just the Cheese” rounds. However, I did have some appetizers at a party a while back which were delicious, but ridiculously simple. First, you need parchment paper, not aluminum foil. My friend used monterey jack cheese; I think that pepper jack cheese is more interesting. Slice the cheese into chunks approximately 1 cm on each side, and place on the parchment paper. Leave at least 2" between the cheese cubes, as it will melt and spread out considerably during cooking. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the exact baking directions. I would assume that 350 degrees would do it. I think that it should take approximately 10 minutes, but the first time you cook them, you might want to check them at 5 minutes just to make sure. It may take as long as 15 minutes. Basically, the cheese will entirely flatten out into a wafer shape, and be a bit golden around the edges when it’s done — it should look the way a good golden brown pizza does. These are good warm, and they are also good when cooled down. Don’t try to take them up while still too hot, though, or they’ll fall to pieces.