Pizza Bites {or Pizza Rolls}

I spied a recipe on a favorite food blog of mine over a year ago, I pinned it, and then finally made them this last week. And they were a hit, we all loved them! My sweet 3 year old loved making them with me (in fact as we made them she starting telling me how to do it each time she made another one, so I decided to snap a video of her. Check out her tutorial below). And because she made them, she knew they'd be good and she ate them.  She goes in spurts of eating good and not, right now she's in one of the not so good eating stages, but she gobbled these right up.   

I used the same dough recipe I use for making pizza dough or breadsticks, with an added tablespoon of olive oil (a tip I got from Leesh). The breadstick recipe makes 24 breadsticks, so I thought that would be about as many pizza bites as I would get out of the dough too. We used two pieces of pepperoni and a small cube of mozzarella cheese inside each roll, it was perfect, not too bready or cheesey.  Just right! They all fit in a 9x13 pan. 

And don't forget to see this cute video on how to assemble them by a 3 year old. My favorite part occurred after I turned the camera off, she showed me the roll and said, "see mom, it's perfect cause I made it!". Guess we need some lessons on humility around here. Ha!

Here is the YouTube link:

http://youtu.be/QedNiWqTBAk

Pizza Bites {or Pizza Rolls}

Printable Version

Ingredients:

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1 recipe pizza dough

48 slices pepperoni

24 cubes of mozzarella cheese (I cut them about an 1” x ¼” - I guess they are more rectangles)

PIzza or spaghetti sauce for dipping (I like Hunts)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and parmesan to top

Pizza Dough:

3 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat 2+ cups of all-purpose flour)

1 tablespoon yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

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Make pizza dough first.  Combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and mix to combine.  Add water and olive oil and mix.  Mix for one minute, if dough is still sticky add more flour until it cleans the side of the bowl of your stand mixer (knead in mixer for 3 minutes on high).  If doing by hand after your minute of mixing with a spoon add more flour to the table and need for 3-5 minutes adding flour as needed so that it’s slightly tacky but not too sticky to handle.  

Once done kneading coat counter or table with flour and cover the dough to rest for 10-30 minutes. Grease a 9x13 size pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Once dough has rested roll it into a large rectangle about 11x17.  Cut the dough into 24 squares with scissors or pizza cutter. Place a cube of cheese and 2 pepperoni in each square and fold the edges together and pinch it into a roll. Place the seam side down in a greased 9x13 pan. Repeat with the rest of the rolls. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt, Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.  

Bake at 400 for 12-18 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.  Eat while warm and dip in pizza or spaghetti sauce.  

Enjoy!