Pull apart pizza bread is a fun way to eat pizza that the whole family will love. If you are new to pull-apart breads, they are sweet or savory breads baked together in sections so each person can pull apart their piece.
Pull-apart breads are popular with game days, backyard parties, and any occasion that requires snacks, so they are perfect for everything. Kids love pizza, that’s for sure!
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The most well-known pull-apart bread is a sweet bread, sometimes called monkey bread. It’s usually made in a bundt cake pan and has sticky pieces that you can pull apart and eat.
But you can make savory pull apart bread too. From bacon & ranch sauce pull-apart bread to artichoke spinach and cucumber ranch dressing, there are many savory ways to enjoy this communal bread.
We decided to make pull-apart pizza bread, and it was a hit with our family and friends, especially the little ones.
So while it isn’t a traditional pizza-style like Chicago-style pizza or New York-style pizza, or honestly a lesser-known style like Greek pizza, we still think it’s worthy of a post. So read on to learn about how to make pull apart pizza.
What is Pull Apart Pizza?
So, the first rule of pull apart pizza bread is that there is no one way to make it. Just like our favorite food, pizza, it really is subject to personal taste.
The first time we made pull-apart pizza, we scoured the internet to find a few different recipes and see how others were making it. We tried a few and ultimately found our favorite way to make pull apart pizza.
Before we get to our take on this classic party food, we want to mention a couple of the variations we found online and our thoughts on them.
First, one of the most common recipes uses canned biscuits. The kind that comes in a tube and makes a pop noise when you open them. Now, this is an easy way to make anything using store-bought dough.
But biscuits are a flaky, buttery type of bread, and for us, it was an odd combination mixed with pizza. This may be great with other types of pull-part bread, but for pizza, we didn’t care for it.
The other common way to make it is using a similar type of dough, crescent dough. Again crescent roll dough is for a flaky style of crust, and we weren’t fans. However, if you like that type of crust with your pizza, then these might work for you.
Another fast way is to use pre-made pizza dough. This makes it fast and easy and keeps the traditional dough flavor. But since we have a few homemade pizza dough recipes that we love, we just use our favorite home pizza dough.
However, yeast-free homemade pizza dough is not the best option for pull-apart pizza bread because you want the dough and goodies to rise and become fluffy bread.
How to Make Pull-Apart Pizza
There are two ways to make pull apart pizza bread. You can use a bundt pan. A bundt pan is a cake pan in the shape of a ring. They are popular for making upside cakes like pineapple cakes.
We love to use our bundt pan for pull-apart bread because it has a cute shape and makes it easy to tear a piece. After the pull apart pizza bread is finished baking and cooled, just flip it over to serve. Also, the space in the middle is perfect for your favorite dipping sauces.
If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can also use a round pie pan. After baking, the bread should be stuck together in one piece, and you can transfer the whole piece to a serving platter for easy tearing and sharing.
Pull Apart Pizza Recipe
Here is our favorite recipe for pull apart pizza bread. But feel free to alter it to fit your favorite pizza toppings.
- 1 ball of homemade pizza dough for one pizza
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup cooked Italian sausage
- 1 cup sliced green peppers
- ½ cup onions
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 3 Tbsps Olive oil
First, sauté the Italian sausage in a little olive oil. When it’s almost cooked, add the green peppers, onion, oregano, and basil. Stir fry them up until they are soft. Set aside.
Take your ball of pizza dough and divide it into smaller balls. Depending on the size of your pan, you can make eight to ten balls. Add the balls to a large bowl with the olive oil.
Use your hands to toss the dough and olive oil. Add the sausage and pepper mixture. Mix again. Add the cheese and mix again.
Now take your pan and pour the whole mix in — bake on 400° for 15 minutes. Time may vary depending on your oven so start checking it at around 8 minutes when the outside edges start to brown. Then, it’s ready to come out of the oven.
Let cool, sprinkle with Parmesano Reggiano and serve with your favorite dipping sauce or hot sauce. We like to serve this with ice-cold lager or pilsner. But if you or your guests are wine drinkers, then a shiraz is the perfect balance for the peppers and sausage.
Pro Tip #1: Beware of too many wet ingredients like pineapple, artichokes, or olives because they make everything a bit too soggy. On a regular pizza, the dough is par-baked, so that’s less of an issue, but here, it’s all baking together, so if using wet toppings, make sure to drain and dry them well.
Pro Tip #2: Avoid using strongly flavored toppings like blue cheese or jalapeños because they don’t mix well, and you can end up with a mouthful of one pungent ingredient.
Have you made pull apart pizza before? What are your [or your kids’] favorite toppings to add to your pull-apart pizza bread?
