These cheesy apps are playful and perfect to make before the big game.
If you like your pizza crust with an extra crunch, you can pre-bake it without toppings (or only tomato sauce) for about 5 minutes in the preheated oven.
If you plan on topping your pizza with a lot of fatty meats or juicy vegetables, brushing on a thin layer of olive oil base can help with containing the moisture during baking.
Raw or fatty meats aren’t going to get fully cooked from a few minutes atop a pizza in the oven. Always pre-cook and drain vegetables that release water while cooking, such as mushrooms.
Exceptions: thin cut pepperoni and prosciutto and some thinly sliced vegetables are fine to top raw.
Use the dough right out of the refrigerator and don’t let it sit on the countertop for too long.
Unroll and keep dough on parchment paper while baking. Paper is oven safe up to 500°F and paper will brown during baking. Cut off or tuck excess paper under the dough, so it isn’t hanging over the baking sheet.
Cutting the dough: If you need to cut the dough, place it on a cutting board to avoid scratching your baking sheet or countertop. If cutting the dough on the baking sheet, ideally use a pizza cutter.
To unroll the dough, remove dough from package and gently separate the dough and parchment paper from the roll, so that the dough on paper begins to lay flat. Be careful not to separate the dough from the parchment paper. There may be some sticking, but the dough and paper should easily pull away from the roll.
Once the dough is lying flat on the baking tray, cut off or tuck any excess paper under, so it does not hang over the edge.
The fastest way to a crispy and chewy crust is cooking the dough directly on a heated surface. Make sure the oven is fully preheated and already hot. A pizza stone or even a simple sheet pan needs ample time to pre-heat. Pizza and Flatbread can also be cooked on a non-heated sheet pan, but always in a pre-heated oven.
You can brush the dough edges with olive oil. Do it right before it goes in the oven and/or right after it comes out. You'll get great color, crunch and flavor.
1. Unroll refrigerated Bistro Pizza Dough and cut out football shapes using 3.5” cookie cutter in “flower petal-shaped” pattern. To minimize scraps, use remaining dough to cut out football laces.
2. Spoon less than 1 Tbsp. cold beer cheese onto the center of half of the footballs.
3. Lightly brush ½ in. edge with egg wash. Place remaining football cut-outs on top of the footballs with filling, sealing and crimping edges with fork tines. Be careful to keep cheese from sealed edges. An optional suggestion is to chill the footballs for 15 minutes in the freezer before baking, to ensure less leakage.
4. Brush footballs with egg wash and place laces on top of footballs to form hash marks. Brush laces with egg wash. Bake at 400°F for 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm and pair with your favorite chili.