Savory Christmas tree made with pizza dough, an original, easy and eye-catching appetizer for Christmas and New Year’s that you can make with store-bought pizza dough or homemade pizza dough.

The Christmas tree made of little pizza-dough balls is one of those delicious appetizers perfect for Christmas lunch and holiday parties. A rustic Christmas tree made with many stuffed pizza-dough balls in assorted flavors. Easy to prepare, impressive and tasty, also ideal as an edible Christmas centerpiece. You can make it in advance and reheat it before serving — it requires just a few ingredients. The fillings for the pizza Christmas tree can vary depending on what’s in your fridge and the many little balls can each have different flavors. So if you’re looking for an edible Christmas centerpiece or an elegant, spectacular Christmas appetizer, this soft and tasty starter could be the winning idea.

So what are you waiting for? This year, the stuffed Christmas tree made with pizza dough can’t be missing from your holiday table — I’m sure it will disappear in no time, just like my 10 show-stopping appetizers for Christmas!

Let’s discover the recipe for the Christmas tree made with pizza dough together, but first remember that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very affordable
Rest time: 3 Hours
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 10
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Christmas

Ingredients to make the Christmas Tree with Pizza Dough

4 1/3 cups type 0 flour (or pizza flour)
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or about 20 g (≈3/4 oz) fresh)
to taste green olives in brine (pitted)
to taste pancetta
to taste tomato paste
to taste mozzarella for pizza (or provolone)
to taste egg (beaten)
to taste sesame seeds

Tools

Bowl
Baking sheet
Oven
Round cutter

Steps to make the Christmas tree with pizza dough

Place the flour in a bowl, add the yeast and sugar and dissolve them together with a little of the water. Mix, then add the rest of the water, the oil and the salt.
Work the dough roughly in the bowl first with a spoon, then with your hand. Once the liquids are absorbed, let it rest for 10 minutes covered with a cloth.
Turn the dough out onto the work surface and knead vigorously for a few minutes until you obtain a smooth, elastic and homogeneous mass.
Place the dough in a bowl and put it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size; this will take about 2 to 3 hours, but it depends on the temperature where it is left to rise. Once doubled (and not before), turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and, without deflating it too much, roll it out into a sheet just under 3/8 in (1 cm) thick. Using a 3 1/8 in (8 cm) round cutter, cut out at least 32 discs.
Fill each disc as you like. I filled some with pancetta, others with olives and others with tomato paste, and on each I also added a piece of pizza mozzarella. You can substitute pizza mozzarella with provolone or caciotta, but not classic fresh mozzarella as it is too watery. I used tomato paste instead of passata for the same reason: it is drier and more flavorful.
Wrap the filling into the dough disc, sealing and rolling each piece between your hands to form a little ball. Repeat for all discs. Assemble the tree on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, starting with one ball at the top and adding one more ball than the row above each time you make a layer. In the end you should obtain a triangle with one ball at the top and seven at the base, for a total of 28 balls.
Make the trunk with the last four balls.
With the leftover dough and a star-shaped cutter make a decoration for the top, then put the assembled tree in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. The second rise is as important as the first: only a well-risen dough will give you a soft and flavorful little tree.
Once doubled, brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with seeds (I used black sesame seeds) and bake in a conventional oven at 392°F (200°C) for 25–30 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven, decorate with colored ribbons and serve.
The Christmas tree made with pizza dough is ready — you can serve it immediately and it will be at its best. If you want to prepare in advance, you can assemble the tree and place it in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for a slow second rise (3–4 hours) and bake before serving, or finish it and reheat as needed. In this case you can assemble it in the afternoon for the evening and keep it warm in the oven. As with any baked product, it is best consumed the same day to remain crisp and soft.
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