Wrapping up our back-to-school series with a fun and tasty recipe that is sure to be a kid-pleaser. Pizza is a pretty kid friendly food, but cold leftover pizza is not always the best lunchbox option. Enter pizza rolls! A soft whole wheat dough rolled up cinnamon roll style with your favorite pizza toppings inside, and of course extra sauce for dipping. Make up a batch on the weekend and fill up those lunchboxes with cheesy carby goodness that is sure to be gone when the lunchbox comes back home.
This dough is a modification of my focaccia recipe. When I am making a dough that is one hundred percent whole wheat flour, I’ll often swap out some of the water in the recipe for whole milk. It makes for a softer dough, which my family of taste testers preferred for these pizza rolls.
The great thing about these rolls is that you can customize them to your specific pizza tastes. Pepperoni, sausage, veggies (just make sure they are cooked first to prevent excess moisture), different cheeses, pineapple, whatever your pizza heart desires. If you have any lingering zucchini in your garden, try out Ashley’s Zucchini Pepperoni for a unique and delicious ingredient for your pizza rolls.
I used my Roasted Tomato Basil Sauce in this recipe, but whatever pizza or marinara sauce you prefer will work fine. If you own the shredder attachment, it is ideal for shredding all that cheese. I used the coarse grater for the mozzarella and the fine grater for the parmesan.
Hope your lunchboxes have had some inspiration as our back-to-school series comes to an end for this year. Be sure to subscribe to get bonus recipes every month. And as always, if you have any questions or comments, please let us know!
Pizza Rolls
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Inactive Time: 2 hours
240 g. (1 cup) water
246 g. (1 cup) whole milk
55 g. (1/4 cup) olive oil
12 g. (1 Tbsp.) instant dry yeast
650 g. (5 3/4 cup) whole wheat flour*
6 g. (1 1/2 tsp.) kosher salt
24 fl. oz. (3 cups) pizza or marinara sauce, divided
227 g. (8 oz./approximately 2 cups) whole milk mozzarella, shredded
28 g. (1 oz./approximately 1/2 cup) parmesan cheese, shredded
Assemble the Ankarsrum mixer with the stainless steel mixing bowl, roller and scraper. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and set aside until ready to use.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm up the milk and water to 105º F. Add to the mixing bowl along with the olive oil and yeast. Turn mixer on the lowest speed (12 o’clock) and slowly add in half the flour. Let mix until combined.
Add the rest of the flour in, along with the salt, with the mixer still going on the lowest speed. Slowly increase the speed to medium (3 o’clock), and once all the flour is absorbed, set the timer for 8 minutes and lock the arm in place about an inch from the edge of the bowl.
Once the dough is done kneading, cover and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 16×12 inch rectangle. Spread 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of the marinara sauce on the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch border without sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over sauce. Beginning with the longest edge near you, roll up dough into a tight cylinder. Make sure seam side is down and then slice into 12 even pieces. Place rolls, cut side up, into prepared baking dish. Spread tops of rolls with 4 oz. (1/2 cup) of marinara sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover and let rise 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes, until cheese is beginning to brown and rolls are cooked through. If desired, broil on high for 1-2 minutes to brown cheese even more. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Serve with remaining 16 oz. (2 cups) marinara sauce.
Yield: 12 rolls
*Cook’s Notes: To replace with all-purpose flour, use 690 g. (5 3/4 cups) and follow recipe above.
If you mill your flour at home, use a hard red or white wheat.
