Leftover pizza ingredients from our family Christmas party became Sourdough Pizza Rolls, but these are a meal in their own right.
Everything you love about pizza swirled up in a delicious pinwheel, with the added bonus of sourdough. These make the perfect appetizer for a Friendsgiving or New Year’s gathering, or just a fun Friday night family dinner. You can stash these in the fridge and bake them when you’re ready!
How To Make Sourdough Pizza Rolls
- Using your favorite pizza dough, or the one included in the recipe, roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle like you’re making cinnamon rolls.
- Roll until the dough makes roughly a 12″x24″ rectangle, using plenty of flour on and underneath the dough, and on the rolling pin.
- Spread softened butter and pizza sauce all over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle on cheese and toppings.
- Roll up into a log and divide into 12-16 rolls.
- Place in baking dish or on pizza pan and brush with garlic butter.
- Bake until golden brown in top and fluffy inside. Serve hot alongside additional pizza sauce if desired.
Although it looks very impressive, this is really a simple recipe to make. I love the idea of making them for a New Year’s Eve appetizer, or any gathering. But they also would make for a fun Friday night at home with your family. Maybe while watching a movie š
Topping Ideas
Bear in mind that I haven’t tested these loaded full of toppings, or with any high-moisture ingredients like canned mushrooms and olives or pineapple. Just use your best judgement, and if the toppings seem like they’ll make the rolls soggy, you can always lay them out on paper towels and dab them first.
- classic meats: pepperoni, sausage, bacon, hamburger, ham
- fancy meats: prosciutto, capicola, andouille sausage, salami, pancetta
- classic veggies: onion, bell peppers, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes
- fancy veggies: peppadew peppers, artichoke hearts, fresh herbs, jalapenos,
- a little sweet: pineapple, pepper jam, fig preserves, hot honey
- fancy cheese: Monterey jack, fontina, asiago, ricotta, burrata, parmesan
Make It A Meal
Here are a few ideas to round out these rolls for a full meal:
- Serve with dipping sauces and a tossed salad
- Alongside raw veggies and homemade ranch, like carrots and celery
- Go big and make wings as well! Then serve veggies or a salad, too
- Fruit salad is a sure winner with my kids, applesauce too
- Try a seasonal roasted veggie like squash or root veggies, and throw some sauerkraut on everyone’s plate for your fermented food
- If sauerkraut isn’t your family’s jam, try homemade yogurt with berries
- Of course a craft beer or glass of red would be delicious š
Tips and Tricks
- You definitely don’t want these rolls sticking to the counter as you’re rolling them out so use plenty of flour. If you’re avoiding unfermented grains, first of all let these ferment longer than the recipe says (try 24 hours in the fridge after the initial rise), then use something like brown rice flour to keep extra gluten out.
- The bake time will vary depending on if you opt for a 9×13 baking dish or something more spread out like a baking sheet or pizza pan. They’re delicious either way, it just depends on if you want a flatter, more spread out pinwheel, or that classic cinnamon roll shape. If the rolls are crowded together, they will take longer as the air isn’t able to circulate around them. See the recipe for more info.
- The recipe mentions the typewriter method for rolling up the rolls. This is the classic way to roll up cinnamon rolls so if you’ve ever made those you probably know what you’re doing. If not, you might want to quickly watch a video of someone doing it. It’s pretty intuitive though. Basically you just want to spiral up the dough into a log.
- Depending on how thin you rolled out your dough and how thick you want each roll, you’ll either cut the log into 12 or 16 rolls. I did 12 and they were great, but you could cut them a little thinner and get 16. Up to you. Remember if you cut them thinner you’ll want to watch the time a little clsoer a they’ll cook faster.
- I like serving these rolls with extra sauce for dipping, as well as brushing them with garlic butter before and after baking.
Baker’s Schedule For Sourdough Pizza Rolls
Here are a couple of sample baker’s schedules to help you know how to time these. This was a confusing obstacle for me when I was first learning sourdough so I hope this is helpful to you.
Sample Schedule 1
Original Way, Not Long-Fermented
- 10 pm (night before): feed starter
- 8 am: mix dough
- 8-5 pm: bulk ferment and rise
- 5 pm: shape rolls and bake
- 6 pm: serve rolls
Sample Schedule 2
Long-Fermented
- 10 pm (night before): feed starter
- 8 am: mix dough
- 8-5 pm: bulk ferment and rise
- 5 pm: cover dough with plastic or beeswax wrap
- 5 pm-5 pm (following day): ferment in fridge
- 5 pm (second day): roll out dough, fill, shape, brush with butter and bake
- 6 pm: serve rolls
Sample Schedule 3
Make Ahead
- 10 pm (night before): feed starter
- 8 am: mix dough
- 8-5 pm: bulk ferment and rise
- 5 pm: fill and shape rolls, put into prepared dish and cover
- 1-3 days: store covered in fridge until ready to brush with butter and bake
Feel free to adjust the baker’s schedule to what works for you. If you have to get out the door sooner in the morning, you can feed your starter earlier in the evening.
This pizza dough, which I adapted from Farmhouse on Boone, is such an easy, beginner-friendly recipe.
You just throw everything in the mixer with the dough hook and let it come together.
I spell it all out in the recipe below, but of course you can use any pizza dough recipe, including store bought.
Grab the printable recipe below. Hope you love it!
-Tara
Sourdough Pizza Rolls
Everything you love about pizza swirled up in a delicious pinwheel, with the added bonus of sourdough. These make the perfect appetizer for a Friendsgiving or New Year's gathering, or just a fun Friday night family dinner. You can stash these in the fridge and bake them when you're ready!
Ingredients
- FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH:
- 115g (about 1/2 cup) active sourdough starter
- 300g (about 1 1/3 cup) water
- 600g (about 4 cups) flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbs oil (olive or avocado)
- FOR THE ROLLS:
- 4 Tbs butter, softened
- 8 oz. pizza sauce
- 8 oz. shredded mozzarella
- 1 tsp salt
- ~2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
- other toppings as desired such as pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, etc. to taste
- 4 Tbs butter, melted
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- The night before you want your pizza dough, feed your starter so it's active and bubbly in the morning. I like to feed mine just 8 hours before. Just be sure you'll have at least 1/2 cup of active starter.
- In the morning, add the starter and water to the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk. Add salt and oil, then flour.
- Mix with the dough hook attachment on speed 2 for 15 minutes, then check the consistency. It should be elastic and smooth, not sticky, and should pass the windowpane test; tear off a chunk, hold it up to a window or light, stretch the dough as thin as possible and see if the light penetrates through without the dough tearing. If not, return to mixer and continue kneading until it does. You might also need to allow the dough to rest for 10-15 before checking with the windowpane test. If it seems dry, slowly drizzle water in with the mixer running. If it seems sticky and isn't pulling away from the bowl, slowly add a couple of tablespoons of flour at a time until it comes together.
- Once the dough is pulling away from and cleaning the bowl and passes the windowpane test, place it in a greased bowl and cover with beeswax wrap, plastic wrap or a damp towel (you will have to keep an eye on the towel and rewet it if it dried out).
- Allow to rise for around 8 hours or until doubled in size. I leave mine at room temp for 4-5 hours then place it in my oven on the bread proof setting for a few hours.
- Once your dough is ready, preheat your oven to 400 F and prepare your pan. You can grease a 9"x13" baking dish or use a pizza pan covered with parchment paper. If you use a pizza pan, the rolls will spread out more and cook faster. If you use the baking dish the rolls will hold their shape, like cinnamon rolls, and will take a little longer in the oven.
- Roll the dough out on a flour covered surface into a large rectangle, as if you're making cinnamon rolls. The rectangle should be roughly 12"x24", about 1/8" thick.
- Spread the butter, then the pizza sauce, all over the dough.
- Sprinkle on the cheese, fresh basil and salt. Then add any other toppings you like, being careful not to overstuff the rolls. I would limit it to 2 or 3 toppings besides the cheese. *I haven't tested this with toppings that contain a lot of moisture like pineapple or canned mushrooms.*
- Next, start rolling up your dough using the typewriter method: With the long edge toward you, start rolling and run your fingers along the edge, rolling up the dough and moving your hands along like a typewriter. As you run your hands back and forth along the long edge, roll the dough away from you towards the back edge, spiraling up all the toppings until you have about a 24" rolled up log.
- Cut the log into 12-16 rolls using a bench scraper, sharp knife or dental floss. I like to cut mine in half, then cut each half in half again, then cut each of those pieces into three pieces. It's easier to keep everything even that way.
- Melt 4 Tbs butter in a small saucepan on the stove and mix in the Italian seasoning and garlic powder.
- Transfer the rolls carefully to your prepared pan, reshaping as needed. Brush the rolls with the melted butter mixture and bake for 28-33 minutes if using the pizza pan, or 35-40 minutes if using the baking dish. If you're not sure if they're done, pull out a roll and cut into it near the center. There will be a slight doughiness where the cheese melts into the dough, but if you scrape it lightly with a fork you should be able to see if the dough is white and fluffy underneath, or if it's doughy throughout and still needs more time.
- Once rolls are baked through, brush with any remaining butter mixture, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then serve hot alongside some additional pizza sauce for dipping if you like. Enjoy!
Notes
This sourdough pizza crust recipe is adapted from Farmhouse on Boone.
You can make these rolls with any pizza crust you desire. Adjust baking time according to recipe or package directions.
If you want to make them ahead, you can either make the pizza dough, let it rise, then cover it and stash it in the fridge. Or make the rolls, place them in a baking dish and cover with plastic wrap, and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to bake.
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