Sunday, January 26, 2014

More than just cake...

Hey everyone!

I've been busy this weekend organizing a cake pricing page (which you can see here.) It's just a free site, nothing terribly special, but I am often asked if I have a website with prices and flavours and I didn't... so I decided to fix that.

This weekend, I also decided to bake for my husband... I used to make my own pizza "pops" for him to take to work for lunch, and I hadn't done that in awhile. He's been so sweet lately, I decided to do something nice for him, so I made them. Then I decided to go one step further and share the how-to with you!

Homemade Pizza Pops

You could use pizza dough (homemade or store-bought), but I actually use a dinner roll dough recipe for my bread maker. Here is the recipe:

1 cup warm water
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp dry milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp active dry yeast
OR
1 1/2 bread machine yeast

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order they are listed and set your machine on the dough setting, and go :)

If you don't have a bread machine, you could use a stand mixer or mix it by hand, just make sure to let it rise at least once.


Once the dough is ready, let it rest for about 5-10 minutes.

 
 
 
Cut up all the ingredients you want to use, while the dough is resting. Here, I have pizza sauce, mozzerella, turkey pepperoni, and mushrooms.
 


 
 
 
I cut the dough into rough equal parts. Six or eight parts is fine... I wouldn't do any more than that because then they won't be very big.
 


 
 
Next, I make a 'well' in the center of the dough, to make room for the fillings.
 
 


 
 
 
I start with some sauce, then the rest of the fillings, and add a touch more sauce. Be careful with the sauce... I have found that if you add too much, it overflows and it's next to impossible to pinch the dough closed because it won't stick.
 


 
 
After it's pinched closed, place it pinched side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
 






 
 
 
Bake at 350*F for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
 


 
 
 
And this is what they look like! Don't be alarmed if a couple of leaks happen... it means you have either overfilled them, or didn't pinch them closed enough... in this instance, it was only a small leak and it won't affect the amount of filling.
 
Let the buns cool to room temperature and place in individual ziplock bags and freeze.
 
My husband says he doesn't put them in the freezer at work, he lets them stay at room temperature to thaw, and then microwaves them at lunch time, unwrapped, at full power for 30-45 seconds and they are perfect. I don't usually eat these so I had to ask him LOL!
 
There are so many variations to this idea. You can do ham and swiss (and I have), you could also do a taco version, with taco meat, cheddar, peppers and bring some salsa on the side to dip it into.
 
I haven't tried this but I am sure you could do eggs, ham and cheese, and dessert versions (chocolate and marshmallow? OKAY!)
 
Versatile and easy...
 
Enjoy, and stay sweet!


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