Making Pizza rolls

June 18, 2025

*Puts on apron*

Hiii :waves:, it’s been so long since I’ve done a recipe post, and the notes for this recipe have been sitting around on my phone since February.

I love pizza - in all kinds of shapes and forms, especially with self-made dough.
Preparing your own pizza dough can be really rewarding; however, it also takes a lot of time.
Instead, this recipe will use ready-made fresh dough.

The ready-made dough might not look as good, but the way the pizza rolls look makes up for this.
This allows you to save on time without sacrificing quality.
Well, arguably, you could be even faster by just rolling the entire dough and cutting it into slices, but it will be a lot more messy and harder to eat with your fingers.

Ingredients

You are free to use whatever toppings you like, but I love the taste and the look of pizza rolls with zucchini on them, so that is what we are going to use today.

The latter two are often included combined in a glass jar.

Recipe

Getting everything ready

Start by cutting the zucchini in half lengthwise. This also allows you to carve out the seeds if you want to.
Afterwards, slice the zucchini into 1-3 mm thin pieces.
The thinner you cut them, the easier it will be to roll them later; however, the taste won’t be as noticeable.

A heap of rainbow-shaped zucchini slices, 1-3 mm wide each

After cutting the zucchini, you can roll out the dough on your work surface.
Use a teaspoon to spread the tomato sauce on the pizza. If your tomato sauce didn’t include herbs or spices, you can add them now.

You don’t want to add too much sauce, as it might spill out, causing a mess when rolling the dough, but if you add too little, the pizza will be too dry.
Tip: If you can’t make out the dough, you probably added too much sauce, and if you don’t see discoloration, you can add more.

Top-down view of rolled out pizza dough with tomato sauce spread on it.

Before you start preparing the rolls, you should also place a baking sheet on a baking tray. We’ll place the prepared rolls on there.

Preparing the Rolls

I’ll start forming the rolls from the right to the left, but you can also go the other way if you prefer.

This process consists of repeating the same steps over and over again until you run out of dough, which is why I’ll only explain them once, and you can repeat them as often as you want.
Tip: If your dough forms a rectangle, you can control the amount and size of the pizza rolls by rotating the dough. I prefer rolling along the shorter edge, because you end up with more, but smaller, rolls, which are easier to hold and eat.

Each time, you start by grating cheese on the right, about as wide as the zucchini.
And place the zucchini slices on top, with the curved section slightly overhanging the dough.
Make sure to leave a gap of about 1-2 cm on either side of the strip to allow the folded tough to connect at the ends.
Once you have done that, you can grate more cheese on top.
The rainbow-shaped Zucchini slices are laid out along the side of the dough, slightly overlapping the edge. The dough has been cut about two slices wide from the edge.

Now cut along the dough twice as wide as the zucchini slices and fold it over the zucchini lining.
Top-down view showing the left of the dough folded over the zucchini slices. Close-up of the folded area, showing that the front is in direct contact with the bottom dough layer.

Next, I place my right hand thumb on the left side and the index finger and middle finger on the right over the dough.
I then use the left hand to roll the dough, moving my right hand along, pushing zucchini pieces back in if they get pushed out.
Side-view of the beginning of the pizza roll, showing the doll being rolled in a snail shell pattern.

Once you reach the end, you can slightly stretch the dough and press it against the spiral to adhere it into place.
Side-view of the finished pizza roll, with zucchinis sticking out, making them look like rose petals.

You can place the finished roll on the baking tray and repeat the process for the rest of the dough.
Top-down view of 7 rolls placed on a tray with cheese grated on top.

When you’ve used up all your dough and placed all the rolls on the baking tray, you can lightly sprinkle more grated cheese on them.
Side-view of the finished roll, showing the rose-petal-like zucchini slices and the grated cheese in closer detail.

Baking

The baking instructions depend on the type of dough and the toppings you chose.
In most cases, you can simply follow the instructions listed on the box.

I just place mine in the oven at 180 °C fan for about 10-20 minutes until they are golden.
I’d recommend regularly checking to see if they are done to prevent them from burning.

Top-down view of the baked rolls. The cheese melted into a golden-brown layer.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly before consumption.
You can eat them as a roll or cut them in half.
I also really like them with dips, like Moretum.

Close-up of a single baked roll, with additional spices on top. The cheese reflects the sunlight. A finished roll cut in half, showing the alternating dough and tomato sauce layers.

Enjoy.