Pizza Sandwich
This pizza sandwich is pizza dough folded over on itself empty, cooked till it puffs, then split open and filled. Burrata, crispy pepperoni, charred jalapeños, hot honey and pesto all go in after baking. Fifteen to twenty minutes start to finish with store bought dough. Fill it with whatever you want.
Why It Cooks Empty
If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a sandwich made from pizza dough. It looks like a calzone and it isn’t one.
A calzone is filled and sealed. Everything cooks inside it together. This pizza sandwich starts off empty. Why?
Because what you put in it doesn’t cook in an oven.
Burrata is ruined by a 500 degree oven. It breaks apart and the cream runs right out of it. Pesto turns brown and bitter when you bake it. Fresh jalapeños just steam instead of charring. Those are better raw. Cooked separately? Sure. Cooked together in there? No.
So instead the dough bakes on its own. Gets folded shut so when it puffs it makes two layers with a pocket in between. Pull it out, slice it open while it’s hot and load it up. The bread does all the cooking. The toppings do all the flavor. Neither has to suffer for the other.
What Goes Into A Pizza Sandwich
| Ingredient | Notes |
|---|---|
| Pizza dough | Homemade or store bought. |
| Olive oil | All over before it folds and a little more on the outside after. |
| Burrata | 2 pieces, on the bottom half. |
| Pepperoni | Pan crisped first. |
| Jalapeños | Sliced and charred in the same pan. |
| Hot honey | Drizzled over everything. |
| Pesto | On the inside of the top half. Store bought. |
Find exact amounts in the recipe card below.
How I Made This Pizza Sandwich
Stretch out your dough into as big of a circle as possible. Same as pizza.
Brush the entire surface with olive oil.
Fold it in half.
Brush olive oil on the outside.
Cook till it puffs up and golden brown all over. Cooked through as well.
While that cooks crisp up the pepperoni in a pan. Take it out and char the jalapeños in that same pan.
Pull the sandwich out of the oven and carefully slice it open.
Add two pieces of burrata on the bottom half. Top with crispy pepperoni and jalapeños.
Drizzle with hot honey.
Spread pesto on the inside of the top half of the sandwich.
Fold it back together, slice into three and serve.
All times and temperatures are in the recipe card below.
Pepperoni, then Jalapeños. Same pan. Order matters.
Place your pepperoni in first. Once it’s cooked, remove it and cook the peppers in the rendered fat. You get char on your peppers AND pepperoni flavor transferred to them. And you didn’t need to add any oil to do it.
Flip that recipe order and your pan is dry when you start cooking the pepperoni. Your peppers get none of that beautiful fat. Trust me, you want the pepperoni first.
Both cook fast and want lots of heat. Pepperoni goes from done to burnt quickly. And peppers want their skin charred, not cooked soft.
Miguel’s Tips
- Oil the entire surface before folding. Then add a little more oil to the outside.
- Cook the dough empty, add the filling after.
- Cook pepperoni and peppers in the same pan. Always pepperoni first.
- Pesto goes on the top half. Keeps it off the hot fillings.
- Burrata, pepperoni and jalapeños are just my preference. Ham, cold cuts, arugula. Anything you want.
Author’s Notes
A New Way To Enjoy Pizza
These are super good. Super delicious. A new way to enjoy pizza, and you can load it up however you want.
You can do ham, you can even do just cold cuts, you can do some arugula. There’s so many possibilities. If you make a few of these, your family can enjoy them and load them up however they want.
All in all it takes probably about 15 to 20 minutes if you get some store bought dough. Or if you wanna make your own, that’s also great.
Miguel
Make-Ahead and Storage
There’s no real make ahead here. Whole thing takes fifteen minutes start to finish. You can crisp your pepperoni early and char your jalapeños early if you want. Pizza dough will keep in the fridge if you want to buy it ahead of time.
Assemble right before eating. Wet burrata melts into the bread and you’ll lose that cold creamy center surrounded by a crisp shell if you let it sit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is burrata cheese?
Fresh mozzarella with a cream filling inside. Much wetter than regular mozzarella. Which is why this goes on after baking and not before.
Can I substitute regular mozzarella cheese?
Yes. It just won’t melt since you don’t put it back in the oven. Thinly sliced fresh mozzarella works better than shredded because of that.
Can I bake this in a regular oven?
Yes! Just bake it at the same temp. As hot as your oven will go. Remember, you’re just cooking dough here. It’s more forgiving than pizza.
Related Recipes
- Grilled Cheese Pepperoni Pizza
- Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza
- Smoked Pizza Rolls
- Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Bread Boat
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Pizza Sandwich with Burrata and Hot Honey
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Stretch the pizza dough out as round as you can, just like making a pizza.
- Brush the entire surface of the dough with olive oil, then fold it in half. Brush a little more olive oil on the outside of the folded dough.
- Cook at 500°F to 600°F in a pizza oven or a home oven run at its maximum, until the dough is puffed up, golden brown and cooked through. Nothing goes inside yet.
- While the dough cooks, heat a pan and crisp the pepperoni. Remove the pepperoni, then add the sliced jalapeños to the same pan and char them in the rendered fat. Pepperoni first, always.
- Pull the sandwich from the oven and carefully slice it open.
- Add two pieces of burrata to the bottom half, then top with the crispy pepperoni and charred jalapeños. Drizzle everything with hot honey.
- Spread pesto on the inside of the top half, fold it back together and cut into three slices, or just cut it in half. Serve right away.
