Pull-Apart P i z z a B r e a d

Soooooo. Slight change of plans, because the Chicken From Hell took two full days to defrost again. Today's post will cover what I think will be a new staple in my apartment, albeit with some tweaking: Pull-apart Pizza Bread.

Have you ever heard of monkey bread? That delicious, rich, vein-clogging goodness that you make out of sugar and cut up grands biscuits and sugar and butter and sugar? Yeah. This is that, but with pizza, and it's easier to make and definitely easier to clean up.

Right, the pan thing! This recipe requires a special kind of pan- you want one that has the hole in the middle. I used an Angel Food Cake Pan from Walmart that cleaned up pretty nice after cooking. The special thing about it is that it has a removable section, so it's easy to get the cake (or monkey bread or pizza bread) out after it's been in the oven and glommed onto the pan. After using a pan that was all one piece to make monkey bread in high school, I would definitely recommend the two-piece model. And, even with having to buy the pan, this recipe was still pretty cheap and it made a LOT.

Here's how to make it:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Totally did that. I'm getting better at this "remembering to preheat the oven" thing.
2. Cut 2 packets of grands biscuits into quarters. Put into Angel Food Cake Pan or Bundt Pan. After the first package, I threw in some cheese so that there was an even cheese distribution throughout.  

   

   Ready to bake!
3. Cut pepperoni into smaller pieces. For this, I used turkey pepperoni because I find that it crisps up a bit more, and it's not quite as greasy. But don't stop with pepperoni- you can put any pizza topping you want into this pizza bread. Toss into pan with quartered biscuits. 
4. Mix in 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of Italian Seasoning, and as much cheese as the spirit moves you to. Mix all ingredients so that oil evenly coats each piece of dough. If you're using the two-piece pan, this can get a little messy, so be careful and make sure the pieces stay firmly together. 
5. Bake for about 30 minutes (or until top is brown and the center is thoroughly cooked). This is where we ran into some issues. My poor neighbor was forced to be my guinea pig, and I didn't realize until after I served it that there were some pieces that were still just a tad gooey. But, no worry. As far as I know, neither of died or got violently ill, so that's... a plus, right?
6. Flip over onto a plate while still hot. This is where the two-piece specialness helps a lot. The outer ring just slips off while the tube part stays in place and you can pluck it out. 

   

   Seriously, look at how good that looks.

7. Serve with a side of sauce and enjoy! I drizzled balsamic vinegar all over it, and it was divine, even with the gooey pieces.

Another extremely interesting cooking adventure on my end, yes. But this recipe was great. Thank you, Lynsey, for being such a trooper and sticking with me through this, I'm glad you didn't die from it :)

All in all, I'm going to have to mess around with the cooking times next time I make this. I worry that if I leave it in any longer, the top and outside will burn. But, this was a great, easy dish that would be great to bring to someone's house for game day or study night. Next time I make it, I'll try a different bake time, and I'll also add some more pizza toppings, like veggies! 

Hopefully the Chicken From Hell will be defrosted in time for Thursday's meal. It's been recommended that I try boiling it. I've never boiled meat of any kind before, so if I do that, it'll be a whole new kind of first. We'll see! 

I did go grocery shopping, and I was amazed at how much money I saved by making a list and an actual meal plan. I have a whole slew of fantastic meals planned for the next month, and I'm so excited! To those of you who have been reading, thank you for your support! I've appreciated every comment, every suggestion, and every encouragement. I'm always open to suggestions and I have a little bit of wiggle room! If you have any specific recipe or technique you would like to see, comment below or email me at dontexpectmiraclesblog@gmail.com, and I will do my best to attempt it! Thank you for reading!

Here's the original recipe: http://sweetandsimpleliving.com/easy-pull-apart-pizza-bread/