Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls Recipe

Author:
Carla Chadwick
Updated date:
Mar 7, 2020

I'm a long-time cook and a fairly new vegan. The combination has caused me to explore new culinary territory and learn a lot along the way.

This garlic roll recipe sprang from my love of cast iron cooking married with my desire to create new vegan recipes. But you don't have to be a vegan to enjoy them—and they don't have to be made in a cast iron pan. They could be made in a round or even square baking dish instead. Whatever you make them in, the idea is that you bring the pan to the table and let people pull the rolls apart themselves. Or like me, just stand at the stove and eat most of them right after they come out of the oven.

I used pre-made pizza dough from my grocery store to make this recipe. Most pizza dough is automatically vegan but check the ingredients of the dough you plan to buy, just in case.

You could make your own dough but purchasing it fresh from the store makes this recipe so much easier. The instructions below are for using purchased dough.

Ingredients

16 oz. pre-made pizza dough, purchased or homemade
Approximately 25 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. dried minced garlic or garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt (optional)
1/4 cup avocado oil or other oil, plus enough to put in the pan to brown the garlic
A 10-1/4" cast iron pan or equivalent sized round or square baking dish

Cooking Time


Prep time	Cook time	Ready in	Yields
1 hour	20 min	1 hour 20 min	Makes approximately 35 rolls

Instructions

1. Let the Dough Rise

Take the dough out of the fridge before you begin to let the dough rise a bit while you prepare the other ingredients.

Pre-made pizza dough from the grocery store or Whole Foods is surprisingly good and makes preparation of this recipe go much faster

2. Slice the Garlic

I used 25 cloves of garlic but you can use fewer if you want. Or, you can use 25 cloves but eliminate the garlic powder. It all depends on how much you like garlic. I happen to love it.

Slice off the sharp end of the garlic where it connects to the plant and then slice each clove into four to six vertical slices, as shown below. (Mine look pretty shiny because I store my garlic in oil in plastic bags in the freezer.)

3. Brown the Garlic

This is where using a cast iron pan is an advantage: it browns garlic perfectly.

Add enough avocado oil (one of the healthiest oils, IMHO) or whatever oil you prefer to cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer.

Add the garlic slices and then brown them and set them aside. Keep in mind that cast iron pans retain heat, so if you use one, don't brown the garlic too much before you turn off the heat and take the pan off the stove.

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4. Divide the Dough Into Four Strips

Use a knife to divide the pizza dough roughly into four pieces as shown below.

Packaged fresh pizza dough divided into four strips

5. Stretch the Dough, Cut It and Roll It into Balls

You get to play with your food a bit here while you stretch the four pieces out as far as they'll go without breaking. Once you've done that, cut them into pieces that will result in approximately 1 1/4" balls after you roll them in your hands.

We're not looking for perfection here. Just get them approximately round and that will be fine.

Nine of the approximately 35 dough balls that 16 oz. of pizza dough will yield

6. Preheat the Oven to 350 Degrees F

7. Mix the Oil, Salt, Minced or Powdered Garlic and Browned Fresh Garlic

Add the 1/4 cup oil, 1 tsp. granulated or powdered garlic, the browned fresh garlic and 1/4 tsp. salt (optional) to a large bowl. Mix well.

I used minced garlic with parsley in it, which is why you see green flecks in the photo below.

This admittedly looks a little gross, but it's the oil, salt and garlic mixture that will give your rolls their flavor

8. Coat the Dough Balls and Put Them in the Pan

Roll the dough balls in the oil mixture and place them in the pan or baking dish. Start from the inside of the pan and work your way out, with each of the dough balls touching.

Tip 1: Put the browned garlic underneath and between each of the dough balls, so the flavor soaks into the dough while they cook. I made the mistake of putting some of the garlic on top of the rolls when I made this batch. It got too brown and bitter-tasting, so I ended up pulling it off after the rolls came out of the oven.

Tip 2: You can also provide a little extra rising time once you put the dough balls into the pan. Depending on the dough you use, the rolls might rise even more if you let them sit another 15 minutes or so while in the pan. If you let them rise until they stop, you'll have amazingly fluffy rolls.

Optional: If you'd like, you can pour any remaining oil mixture over the dough balls in the pan. Most of it will just be absorbed, delivering extra flavor.