Plus: Herb Ranch & Fontina Pizza Braids
This is a crazy twist on pizza twists! We like to braid them instead of twisting and it gives them such a fun pattern. Plus, you get gooey melted cheese and lots of spice on the inside and crispy cheese on the outside. They’re so much fun as an appetizer or party food and you can freeze them once you make them and bake ‘em later!
We make two varieties of these pizza braids: Diavola Spice Rub with sharp cheddar, mozzarella and crumbled blue cheese, and Ranch Revolution Herb Blend with Fontina and Parmesan cheese. We don’t use pizza sauce … just olive oil, seasoning and cheese.
We have found that 1 lb. of pizza dough yields about 12 pizza braids. We have included a recipe below for 6 of each of these two flavors, for a total of 12 braids. If you are lucky enough to have a pizza oven, these bake up in about 2-3 minutes. But if not, don’t worry, you can always bake them in a very hot oven … 450 to 500 F, for about 5-7 minutes, depending upon the oven.
These pizza braids are super easy to make, because we use Trader Joe’s pizza dough and that saves a lot of time. Did you know that Trader Joe’s is coming out with a gluten-free fresh pizza dough later this month (April 2024)? So exciting for those who love pizza but can’t stomach the gluten!
Blue Cheese & Cheddar Pizza Braids
Equipment
- 1 pizza stone (or baking sheet)
Ingredients
Blue Cheese & Cheddar Pizza Braids
- 1/2 lb. prepared fresh pizza dough (Trader Joe’s makes this and soon will have a gluten-free version)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. Diavola Spice Rub
- 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar
- 2 tbsp. cornmeal (to sprinkle on the pizza stone)
Herb Ranch & Fontina Pizza Braids
- 1/2 lb. prepared fresh pizza dough
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup grated Fontina cheese
- 2 tbsp. Ranch Revolution Herb Blend
- 2 tbsp. cornmeal (for sprinkling on the pizza stone before you put the braids on it.)
Instructions
- Take your prepared pizza dough and let it proof on the counter for about 20 minute.
- On a lightly floured cutting board or cloth, roll dough out to a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches.
- Cut the big rectangle into six 4 x 8 inch individual rectangles. (This doesn’t have to be exact, just a rough idea of the size.)
- Brush the olive oil over the top of each rectangle and sprinkle with either the Diavola Spice Rub or the Ranch Revolution herb blend, and whichever cheese you like, saving some for on top of each braid.
- Cut each braid into three strips and sprinkle cheeses over the entire thing.
- Now, starting at the very top, begin to braid the dough, tucking any cheese that falls off, (and it will fall off) back into the braid. Feel free to twist dough to allow some of the top and some of the bottom of each of the three prongs to the braid to be facing upwards. This gives some nice color contrast to the braid. Pinch the dough together at the very top and very bottom of each braid. Tuck under the back side to make it look a bit neater.
- Continue with all six pieces of dough until you’ve finished braiding. Sprinkle a little more of the spice over the top of each braid and whatever cheese is leftover on the work surface, too. Allow the braids to sit on the counter for about 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place your pizza stone in the center rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 475℉. If you plan to use your pizza oven, heat it up to 800℉. Preheat your pizza stone for about 5 minutes in the pizza oven.
- When ready to bake the pizza braids, sprinkle the cornmeal on the pizza stone and transfer the braids to the preheated stone. Bake them in the oven for about 7-10 minutes, or in the pizza oven for about 2 minutes.
- Serve piping hot with your favorite blue cheese or ranch dipping sauce.
