Pizza Pinwheels

in Appetizers, Pizza, Pork

Pizza Pinwheels

I like to read my cookbooks front-to-back, just like a real book – every introduction, every ingredient, and every footnote of every recipe. A couple, like both of The Pastry Queen books, I’ve read several times.

I was heading into the last chapter of one of my Christmas presents, Giada’s Kitchen. It was devoted to fun-ish recipes that children can help with or should at the very least, eat. We don’t have kids, though the argument could easily be made that we’re both just a couple of overgrown brats ourselves. I almost called it quits at the fish sticks recipe, my most unfavorite thing ever to have eaten growing up. And then I hit the pizza rolls.

Really, pizza in nearly any form is pretty close to perfection – rolls, sticks, calzones, and quickie-muffin “pizzas” that bear almost no resemblance to real pizza at all. Even most “bad” pizza is tolerable. You can almost never go wrong with pizza.

Whole Wheat Prosciutto, Basil, and Mozzarella Pinwheels

A fun party appetizer: pizza pinwheels stuffed with mozzarella, basil, and prosciutto.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb pizza dough (my favorite dough), prepared and ready to shape
  • 8-10 thin slices Prosciutto di Parma
  • 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
  • 1 large bunch basil
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Marinara sauce, for serving

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425, set the rack in the middle.
  2. Shape the dough. Carefully dredge the ball of dough in a bowl of flour (so as not to press the air out of the dough) to coat and transfer to a dry work surface.
  3. Hold one edge of the dough in the air with both hands and let the bottom edge touch the work surface. Carefully move hands around the edge of the dough (like turning a steering wheel) to stretch the dough to 10-12 inches.
  4. Lay dough on a lightly floured surface and gently stretch the circle into a rectangle.
  5. Sprinkle the cheese over the dough top and cover with prosciutto slices and whole basil leaves.
  6. Crack fresh black pepper over the top. Roll the dough into a thin cylinder, sealing the seam by pinching the dough together and tucking under the ends
  7. Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with course salt (we also topped with thin tomato slices).
  8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
  9. Slice into 1-inch wide pinwheels and serve with marinara sauce, if desired.

Notes

Yields: ~18 slices

Adapted from Giada's Kitchen, 2008

13 comments… add one
  • This looks delicious! It is before 7am and I would gladly take a few slices!

  • Lovely pizza rolls!!

    **Just as a heads up: I will not be able to comment on blogs as often now, during this semester, due to work overload (I’m stressed already) – PLEASE know that I’m still loyally reading, but just won’t have time to comment. I hope you understand!!

  • I love that these are in bites rather than whole slices. I’m such a snacker and could polish these off easily I’m sure!

  • This looks awesome! I love Giada. Can’t wait to make this recipe.
    Also enjoy your website. The layout is inviting.
    Treehouse Chef

  • Looks great! I got this cookbook for Christmas and love it! I haven’t made anything yet, but I have a couple of things on the menu for the next couple weeks.

  • I love making pizza bread. But you know I haven’t used the whole wheat yet, and I need to.

  • I like pizza rolls in general, but I love that these are a Giada version!

  • I was looking for some easy pizza rolls (the kind a bachelor like me would want to make) and I found these…pretty simple…although I am fresh out of basil so I may have to do without that…and the Prosciutto di Parma since I have no idea what that is 🙂

  • Colleen

    this was the first recipe I tried from her new book, we have played around with the recipe and made them several times now! My personal favorite is with proscuitto and fontina. YUM!

  • I’m so glad I’m not the only one that reads cookbooks cover to cover!! They really are like novels!

    And these pizza rolls look great!

  • Yum, I love the fact that it is quick and easy, but maybe too easy that I might just make it everyday, lol!!!!!!!!

  • I like to read books all the way through too, I just don’t have the time lately! I have Giada’s new book and haven’t made my way through it yet. I love pizza…

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