Pizza Bites

this is posted by elise. yeahhhhhhhh- my first one.

I made Pizza Bites for the super bowl. I got these from this blog. Anyway, they were SUPER delicious. huge big fan of them. They are best when eaten warm and dipped in pizza sauce (i just used prego) or ranch dressing. The recipe calls for pizza dough. Now, you can either buy the pizza dough in a can (ex: pillsbury etc) or make it from scratch. I used the recipe below, and it was AMAZINGGGGG. I think my pizza bites were a little bigger than they were supposed to be, but who cares. Luna is modeling them below. and yes, she did lick one while i wasn't looking.

Pizza Bites from heaven

Ingredients:
½ batch pizza dough (enough for 1 pizza)
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed (about 20-24 pieces)
Sliced pepperoni ( you can also used turkey pepperoni!)

For topping:Olive oil
Italian seasoning
Grated Parmesan cheese (i have also heard its yummy to add red pepper flake things)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate or cake pan. Divide the pizza dough into 20-24 roughly equal sized pieces. Take one of the dough pieces, top with a cube of cheese and a slice or two of pepperoni. Pull the edges of the dough around the fillings and pinch closed. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.

Lightly brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm, with dipping sauce as desired.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast

1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 ½ tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.