Pepperoni Pizza Roll-Ups

Recently, I’ve been trying to make homemade pizza at least once a week. Once you gain a bit of confidence with the dough, the possibilities are endless. You can go from starting the dough to having a finished pizza pie in about an hour, if you are working quickly and prep your pizza toppings while your dough rises.

While making pizza the other week, I left one pizza pie dough in the fridge for a day, and it over-proofed. I stretched it out into the shape of a large rectangle, and filled it with a cinnamon-sugar and nut filling to create a very simple version of cinnamon-sugar pizza rolls, which were very tasty.

I then used the same idea with different pizza toppings like pepperoni, where the pepperoni slices are layered onto the pizza dough rectangle before it is rolled up and sliced into rounds, which are then baked. It’s a really fun appetizer to play around with, and a great way to experiment with pizza dough.

The following recipe creates about 16 small-sized pepperoni pizza roll-ups.

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Pepperoni Pizza Roll-Ups

Recently, I’ve been trying to make homemade pizza at least once a week. Once you gain a bit of confidence with the dough, the possibilities are endless. You can go from starting the dough to having a finished pizza pie in about an hour, if you are working quickly and prep your pizza toppings while your dough rises.

While making pizza the other week, I left one pizza pie dough in the fridge for a day, and it over-proofed. I stretched it out into the shape of a large rectangle, and filled it with a cinnamon-sugar and nut filling to create a very simple version of cinnamon-sugar pizza rolls, which were very tasty.

I then used the same idea with different pizza toppings like pepperoni, where the pepperoni slices are layered onto the pizza dough rectangle before it is rolled up and sliced into rounds, which are then baked. It’s a really fun appetizer to play around with, and a great way to experiment with pizza dough.

The following recipe creates about 16 small-sized pepperoni pizza roll-ups.

Ingredients

For the Pizza Dough:

• 14 oz warm water (1.75 cups), (at 110F)
• 1 packet of active dry yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, or about 480 grams
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 2.5 Tbsp sunflower seed oil
• A few extra Tablespoons of all-purpose flour, to use to dust your work surface while stretching out the dough.

For the Pizza Roll-Up Toppings:

• 2/3 cup pizza sauce, (or prepared tomato sauce)
• 1 cup sliced pepperoni
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp Kosher salt
• 1.5 cups shredded cheese mix
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, (for drizzling over pizza roll-ups)

Instructions 

• In a small bowl, combine the warm water with the active dry yeast, and allow the active dry yeast to rest for roughly 5 minutes while you mix the remaining dry ingredients for the dough.
• In a large bowl, mix together the 480 grams of all-purpose flour with the kosher salt and white granulated sugar.
• After the yeast has sat in the warm water for five minutes, pour the water and yeast into the bowl with the flour.
• Add the sunflower seed oil to the mixture, and mix all the ingredients together.
• If you have a stand mixer, transfer the mixture to your stand mixer bowl and mix on low speed for 6 minutes.
• If you do not have a stand-mixer, knead by hand for 10-12 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• After the dough has been kneaded or mixed in the stand mixer, cover the dough ball in a bowl with plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
• When the dough has rested for 30 minutes, transfer the dough ball to a lightly-floured work surface.
• Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the dough into two equal-sized pieces.
• Shape each piece of dough into a ball, and lightly oil the outsides of each dough ball.
• Place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for another 30 minutes, or store it in the fridge for up to two days until you are ready to bake.
• When the dough has rested at room temperature for 30 minutes and has increased in size by roughly 50%, you are ready to stretch out your dough and prepare your roll-ups.
• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Lightly dust each dough ball on the outsides with flour.
• Carefully stretch out each piece of dough into the shape of a large rectangle, roughly 10” wide and 14” long.
• Divide the sauce between the two pizzas, spreading the sauce in an even layer on the dough while leaving a 1” border around the edge of each pizza that has no toppings.
• Add the sliced pepperoni, red pepper flakes, and a very light sprinkling of kosher salt on top of the sauce.
• Top with the shredded cheese mix.
• Gently roll each rectangle of dough into a long cylinder, and cut each cylinder into 8 pieces using a sharp knife.
• *Each piece after being cut should vaguely resemble the shape of an unbaked cinnamon roll.
• Place each of the pizza roll-ups onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
• Drizzle some olive oil over the top of the pizza rolls.
• Bake in the oven at 425F for roughly 20-25 minutes, or until the pizza roll ups are cooked through on the insides, and the outsides are golden brown in color.
• Remove the pizza roll-ups from the oven, and allow them to cool for roughly 3 additional minutes.
• Carefully remove the roll-ups from the parchment paper using a spatula, and serve the roll-ups while they are still hot.

Notes

These roll-ups taste best when they are freshly-made and served right out of the oven, although they can be re-heated in aluminum foil the next day.  

You can get as experimental as you like with the toppings, but you might try to avoid overstuffing the dough with too many uncooked vegetables or cured meats, as they will release a significant amount of water or fat while baking which will soak into the dough as it cooks.