Fabulous Pizza Roll

During the last holiday season we were invited to a dinner party and asked to bring an appetizer to share.  I didn't want to bring something like crackers and dip because (even though it's good and everyone likes it) when there are other food choices it gets left sitting there.  I wanted to bring something that everyone would rave over and quickly devour.

I know that pizza is always popular so I sought out a party version of pizza. I came across an easy recipe on allrecipes.com and made my own version of Jet Swirl Pizza Appetizers.  The original recipe uses prepared refrigerator dough.  If you have a bread maker or food processor you can make your own dough fairly easily.

I've made this recipe many times since that party and it has always been a favorite with our family.  You can make it with various combinations of meats and cheeses, but the original recipe combination is just so yummy I try to do it when I can.
Fabulous Pizza Roll
One batch of pizza dough (based on a recipe using about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups flour)
1/4 pound Genoa salami, thinly sliced
1/4 pound pepperoni, thinly sliced
1/4 pound provolone cheese, sliced
1/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
garlic infused oil or grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
spaghetti or pizza sauce for dipping (optional)

Prepare the dough according to your favorite recipe.  I love to use the previously posted recipe for my favorite multi-purpose dough. Or you could use this Pizza Dough recipe. Of course, you could also use a store bought refrigerated dough (but it will likely make a smaller roll).  I find it super easy to use my bread maker, add the ingredients, run it on a dough cycle, and pull the finished dough out to shape.
Roll your dough into a large narrow and long rectangle.  Layer on the ingredients--meats and cheeses.  Keep them away from the edges. Don't over fill.  Roll it up tightly along the long edge.  Pinch and seal the edges of the dough closed. Spray a large baking sheet with no-stick spray and place your large roll with the sealed seam side down.  (If mine is too long to fit I shape it into a big C or circle shape.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You can brush the roll with a garlic flavored oil before baking.  Bake the roll for about 25-30 minutes--until it's light brown. (This takes longer to cook than a flat pizza.)  If you want to top it with Parmesan cheese you can pull it out 5 minutes before it's done baking and quickly sprinkle it with the cheese before returning it to the oven to finish baking.
Allow it to cool a few minutes before slicing and serving.  You can serve it with sauce for dipping if you desire.

Tiffany's Notes:  As I said before--this combination of meats and cheeses is just delicious.  I've made it with just mozzarella and pepperoni but it's not the same.  A tip I picked up from the comments of the original recipe is to pre-heat your meats to remove excess fat.  Place a single layer of meat on a paper towel lined plate--heat in the microwave for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.  Blot off the excess fat.  Then, add to your pizza roll.

You can customize the overall size of the pizza roll according to your needs--maybe making two smaller and skinnier rolls for appetizer-sized slices or one big and hearty roll for dinner slices.

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