Make these Pizza Balls yourself and you won’t have to worry about paying Pizza Poppa.
Ingredients
New York Pizza Dough Ingredients:
500 g bread flour, plus more for dusting
25 g sugar
10 g kosher salt
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
300 g ice water
15 mL (1 tablespoon) cooking olive oil, plus more for greasing
Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
2 (28 oz) cans chopped San Marzano tomatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large basil stem (leaves included)
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp dried oregano
Garlic Herb Oil Ingredients:
¾ Cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp dried parsley
¼ tsp dried oregano
Garlic Knot Pizza Balls Ingredients:
New York Pizza Dough (see recipe above)
100 g Pizza Sauce (see recipe above)
Garlic Herb Oil (see recipe above)
200 g low moisture mozzarella cheese, grated
150 g pepperoni
Pizza Pinwheels Ingredients:
New York Pizza Dough (see recipe above)
As needed olive oil
100 g Pizza Sauce (see recipe above)
300 g low moisture mozzarella cheese, grated
200 g pepperoni, chopped
Method
New York Pizza Dough Method:
In a food processor, combine the bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.
In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the ice water and oil.
Pulse the flour mixture together a few times just to combine everything. With the machine running, stream the water and oil mixture through the feed tube and process until a ball of dough forms. This should give you a dough with a hydration of about 60%.
Lightly oil a container, a work surface, and your hands. Knead the dough until it cohesively comes together in a very soft and smooth mass. Form it into a taut ball then transfer to the oiled container and cover with a lid or inverted baking sheet. Let rise in the fridge overnight or up to 3 days to improve the dough’s texture and flavor.
Pizza Sauce Method:
Roughly puree the chopped tomatoes in a high-walled container until mostly smooth.
Heat the oil in a medium pot until shimmering. Then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, basil stem, salt, and oregano to the pot.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until thickened.
Reserve until ready to use.
Garlic Herb Oil Method:
Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, then reserve until ready to use.
Garlic Knot Pizza Balls Method:
Divide the dough into 65 gram pieces, then shape the dough into balls.
Place the shaped dough into a lightly grease proofing box or a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Loosely over the dough and allow them to proof at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, or until puffed.
Once proofed, shape the balls into logs about 8 inches long.
Tie each log into a knot, brush each knot with the Garlic Herb Oil mixture, and then transfer them back to the proofing box or sheet tray. Once again, loosely cover and allow the garlic knots to proof for 1 hour.
Towards the end of the proofing period, lightly grease a muffin tin with nonstick spray or extra garlic oil. Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
Once the garlic knots have proofed, carefully inject them with the Pizza Sauce.
Place the greased muffin tin in the oven for 10 minutes to preheat. Then carefully, transfer the filled garlic knots to the preheat muffin pan. Top with cheese and pepperoni, then return the pan to the oven and bake until the garlic knots are cooked through (~210°F internal temperature) and the cheese has fully melted.
Allow the pizza balls to cool slightly before consuming!
Pizza Pinwheels Method:
Allow the dough to proof at room temperature, loosely covered, for 1 hour.
Towards the end of the proofing period, lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan with olive oil.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle 13 inches wide and 20 inches long.
Spread the Pizza Sauce over the entire surface of the dough, save for a ½ inch strip along one of the 13 inch sides.
Top the pizza sauce with about ⅔ of the cheese and pepperoni.
Roll the dough starting from the 13 inch side with sauce towards the opposite side without sauce.
Using unflavored dental floss, cut pinwheels about 1 inch thick.
Transfer the pizza pinwheels to the prepare baking dish, making sure they are evenly spaced apart from one another. Loosely cover the dish and allow them to proof for 1 hour or until they are just beginning to tough each other.
Towards the end of the proofing period, preheat the oven to 400 °F with convection fan.
Uncover the pizza pinwheels and transfer them to the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the pizza pinwheels begin to brown, then top with the remaining grated cheese. Return the pinwheels to the oven and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches ~210°F.
Allow the pizza pinwheels to cool slightly before serving.