Cheesy BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza Rolls

Chewy dough parcels stuffed with sauce, smokey meat and cheese. Heck yeah! Try this recipe for cheesy pulled pork pizza rolls.

When it comes to meat, cheese and starchy carbohydrates, there’s an infinite number of delicious combinations one can concoct. You really can’t go wrong. This recipe started in planning phases as a homemade version of pepperoni rolls, without all the extra junk. By junk, I mean preservatives and various baking extenders. These are added to most commercial doughs to create a longer shelf life and a guaranteed success of baking properly.

I’m not here to judge you. I’m not here to shame you because you want a more convenient solution. If you wanted to use canned biscuit dough for this, then go for it! Eating that stuff just doesn’t make me feel all that great, which is why when I make indulgent foods, I like to do it from scratch. So I’m here to give you options.

You can definitely make these rolls using canned or frozen dough. But making your own pizza dough is crazy easy. You just need to start about an hour in advance to give the yeast a chance to do it’s thing, and the dough time to rise. Seriously, it’s just a handful of ingredients and a little patience. Simple.

And since you’ve already taken ALL those hours to create beautiful pulled pork, why not take that extra step? This recipe is perfect for leftovers, and you can even use leftover meat that has been frozen, since it’s going to be protected by the dough while it cooks. It’s recommended that if you haven’t yet done so, you mix the pork with some BBQ sauce to keep it moist. It has a greater chance of drying out when reheated, and adding in preventative moisture helps. Just make sure it’s not overly saucy, otherwise your buns may get soggy (heh).

Anyway, enough babble. Here’s the only reason you need to go ahead and make these:

Cheesy Pulled Pork Pizza Rolls

Ingredients

• 2 cups pulled pork
• 6 oz shredded mozzarella
• 6 oz shredded gouda
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• For the dough:
• 2 packages dry yeast (1.4 oz each)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1.5 cups warm water
• 1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil, plus extra for brushing
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups flour

Instructions

1. Start by making the pizza dough. In a bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and warm water. Leave for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate and bloom. (If you have seen no growth in the yeast you'll have to tip this batch and start again).
2. Once the yeast is activated, stir in the oil and salt. Add the flour then use a dough hook on a stand mixer to combine and knead the ingredients, about 5 minutes. You can do this step by hand, it'll just take a bit of elbow grease!
3. Dump the dough into a large bowl greased with oil, then cover with a cloth and set in a warm place to let the dough rise for about an hour. It should at least double in size.
4. Preheat an oven to 400f. Brush a casserole or baking pan with oil.
5. Once the dough has risen, transfer to a board or silicon mat and knead a few times. Divide into 12 pieces and cover with the cloth to prevent them drying out as you make each roll.
6. Take one piece of dough, and use your hands to flatten it out in a circle, about half an inch thick. Place a tablespoon of gouda in the middle, then top with about 1.5 tablespoons of pulled pork. Top with a tablespoon of mozzarella, then bring all the edges together and pinch to seal. Place the roll in the tray seam side down.
7. Repeat the process until all the rolls are formed, and in the pan, then brush the tops with oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Place pan into oven to cook until the tops are a golden brown, about 25-35 minutes.