Pizza rolls

Pizza rolls is a convenient change from the sliced pizza with all the actual taste and is loved by adults and kids alike. They are espcially great on the go and is relatively mess free. These yummy bits are excellent for kids and kiddie parties because it will be an instant hit. Here, I have taken basic pizza dough and instead of rolling it out as a regular pizza, cut them into quarters and filled them with the usual pizza toppings. Its easy to experiment with this recipe by changing the combination of fillings to your liking and thus personalising it. When given to toddlers like mine, you will end up with a well-fed kid rather than a big blob of pizza sauce on the high chair (well, er......before the rolls, mine usually did) !! Enjoy !

Recipe:

Basic pizza dough - 1 recipe
Pepperoni - 1.25 oz
American cheese slices - 3
Capsicum - 1/2 sliced thin and cut across in three
Black pitted olives - about 10, cut into rings
Pizza sauce - as needed

Egg - 1 (optional)

Method:

Prepare the pizza dough as in the recipe.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Divide the dough into two.

Roll out each half into a rectangle.

Cut each half into quarters.

Make each of the quarters thinner by rolling them out.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Cut the cheese slices lengthwise to from slender matchsticks.

Place a teaspoon of pizza sauce at about the middle of the small rectangle.

Top with pepperoni (about 4 slices), Sliced and chopped capsicum, olives and cheese.

Roll up the pizza dough in egg-roll fashion. Start from the edge closest to the toppings, gently pull over the toppings.

Fold the edges of the adjacent sides inwards to seal the fillings.

Continue to roll up the dough and fix the edge underneath the roll.

Repeat for each of the dough quarters until 8 rolls are made.

Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Prepare egg wash by whisking an egg with a tbsp of water. (optional)

Moisten the top of each roll with the egg wash mixture.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until browned.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Enjoy warm with marinara sauce.

Tips:

1. I usually substitute 1 tsp of Italian seasoning for the 2 tbsp of rosemary in the basic dough recipe.
2. I used tomato ketchup for the filling since I started the recipe thinking that I had pizza or pasta sauce, but I didnt. (I usually use traditional pasta sauce with meat since I like the flavor).
3. While rolling up the dough, be sure to enclose the fillings well, otherwise cheese and sauce might leak out and burn ( a few of mine did !).
4. The egg-wash step is optional, it does not add any special flavor to the rolls but does give a lovely brown sheen. Otherwise the rolls will not have the sheen and will appear as bread rolls.