Food For Friday: Pizza Bites

I first heard about this recipe for Pizza Bites from my friend Wendy.  She said they were delicious and I added them to our list of recipes to try.  Mine didn't turn out as picture perfect as Annie's Eats did, but they were definitely delicious. 

These would make a great appetizer if you are entertaining or to take to a party, but we ate them for dinner as a modified "pizza."  I served them with a side of spicy pesto spaghetti sauce for dipping.

I followed Annie's Eats recipe except that I used this same night pizza dough from the Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook because it didn't require as long to rise and I didn't have any bread dough on hand.  You only need half of the dough to make 24 pizza bites.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached), plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil.  When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour and the 2 teaspoons of Kosher salt, and mix on medium-low speed.  While mixing, add in 1 additional cup of flour so a soft dough forms.  Mix on medium-low speed for 10 minutes.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top with a little bit of flour, and knead it by hand a dozen times.  It should be firm, but smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl (I use olive oil) and turn the dough over to cover it lightly with oil.  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Dough is ready to be used after 30 minutes.

Note:  This recipe will make 2 large or 6 small pizzas.  Use half a batch of dough for 24 Pizza Bites. Leftover dough can be stored in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator for several days.

The only other ways I deviated from the original recipe:
I baked our Pizza Bites in a square 8 inch pan instead of a pie pan because it was clean and already out.  I was going for fast and easy!
I used fresh mozzarella cheese cut into 1 inch-ish cubes.  I made half of our Pizza Bites with cheese only for me, and half with pepperoni for the hubs.
I grated fresh parmesan cheese on the top before baking.

One other thing to note, if you don't get the dough totally sealed around the cheese, or you stretch a tiny hole in the piece of dough as you are wrapping the bites, the cheese will ooze out during baking.  I think this is especially true if you use fresh mozzarella like I did because it is softer and has more moisture in it than already cubed part skim mozzarella.  They still tasted great and the little bit of oozed out cheese didn't bother me!