Pizza Pull Apart Rolls

Make the dough

Place the yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Or, if you do not own a stand mixer, a regular large mixing bowl. Heat the milk on the stove or in the microwave until warm to touch, about 110°F (43°C). Pour warm milk on top of yeast/sugar. Whisk gently to combine, then loosely cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to sit for 5—10 minutes. The mixture will be frothy after 5—10 minutes.

If you do not have a mixer, you can mix the dough together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in this step. Add the melted butter, egg, salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning and about 1 cup of the bread flour. Beat on low speed for 1 minute to combine ingredients, then add the remaining flour and beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.

Knead the dough

Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.

Place the dough in a greased bowl (I use nonstick spray to grease) and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place in a slightly warm environment to rise until doubled in size, around 60—90 minutes. (If desired, use my warm oven trick for rising. See my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)

As the dough rises, grease a 9-inch square pan, a 9-inch springform pan, a 9×13-inch baking pan, or a 10-inch oven-safe cast iron skillet; if using a cast iron skillet that’s already seasoned, no need to grease it. A 9-inch round cake pan or pie dish is too small for this recipe. See Notes for other baking pan options.

Prepare the filling

Mix together 1 and 1/2 cups (135g) shredded mozzarella and 1/2 cup (60g) chopped pepperoni in a bowl.

Shape the rolls

When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Pinch off a piece of dough about 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons in size (1 ounce/30g). With your hands, form into a ball and make an indent in the center. Pinch a bit of cheese and pepperoni (a scant Tablespoon, about 7–8g) with your fingers and stuff into the middle of the dough. Press the dough around it to seal the filling inside, and place the stuffed dough ball into the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough and filling until you’ve filled the pan (you should have about 20–24 balls).

Cover the pan with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to rise once again in a slightly warm environment until puffy, about 30–45 minutes.

tep-9">Prepare the toppings

Prepare the toppings

In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup (45g) mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup (30g) pepperoni. If you’re making the supreme-style option, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and chopped green pepper. Cook, stirring and breaking up the sausage into bite-size pieces with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, until sausage is cooked through, about 6–7 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a plate lined with paper towels, to drain. Combine with the sliced olives.

Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position, then preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

Bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the rolls from the oven and sprinkle on the cheese and pepperoni topping; plus the cooked sausage, peppers, and olives, if making supreme style. Loosely tent with foil, then return to oven and bake for another 12–15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. For a more accurate test of doneness, the rolls are done when an instant read thermometer reads 195°F (90°C). Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes as you prepare the topping.

Make the garlic herb butter

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and stir in the garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Brush on warm rolls before serving. Serve with a side of pizza sauce, and any other additional pizza toppings such as fresh chopped basil or crushed red pepper flakes.

Cover leftover rolls tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.