adventures in cooking: "gourmet" pizza buns

I love pizza.

Like, I really, really love pizza.

I could probably eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and not get sick of it.

But I loathe bringing slices of pizza to work with me for lunch. It's just not a very portable food, which is very sad.

So one day when I was thinking about how I could possibly bring pizza to work safely without it getting all smooshed and soggy on the way (yes, I think about this a lot, with various foods) I remembered back in high school how our canteen used to sell these truly horrendous things called "Pizza Rounders". They were essentially a round bun with a "pizza" (read - horribly processed "meat" sludge with flavouring) filling.

And I thought to myself - I could do that! But better!!

And so I did.

My first experiment with Pizza Buns I just tried my usual go-to topping of ham, pineapple and cheese, which was awesomely delicious, but I thought I could do more with it.

So now I present to you my new adventure in Pizza Bun flavours; 

mushroom, tomato and basil - cauliflower and garlic - roasted sweet potato, onion and spinach

 

"Gourmet" Pizza Buns

Makes 8

*Disclaimer - I am a very sloppy chef. I guesstimate basically all of my measurements, temperatures and cooking times, so if the below doesn't work for you, I'm truly sorry. I've tried my hardest to give some-what precise amounts etc, I just never really had the patience for following instructions to the tee!

Ingredients:

- For the pizza dough I like this recipe for 100% whole-wheat dough, however I switch the sugar for either honey or Stevia, depending what I have on hand.

- Mushroom, tomato & basil - 1 cup diced mushroom, 1/2 cup tomato, 1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped basil, 1/2 - 1 cup cheese (whatever you have - I just used tasty)

- Cauliflower & garlic - 1 cup diced cauliflower, 1 TBS minced garlic ( I use the stuff in the jar because I'm lazy), 1/2 cup cheese

- Sweet potato, onion and spinach - 1 cup diced sweet potato, 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped spinach, 1/2 cup cheese

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C

2. Make your pizza dough as per the directions in the link above. While your dough is rising you can start preparing your fillings.

3. For the cauliflower or sweet potato, I toss them in a bowl with oil and some salt and pepper, then spread out on a tray lined with baking paper and put them in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until softened and just golden.

Mushroom/onion goes into a small pot with some oil or butter until softened.

4. Put the cooked ingredients into a bowl and then add the raw ingredients and cheese (does cheese count as raw?). Mix together.

5. Once your dough has risen and you've punched the crap out of it as per the dough recipe, portion it out into about 8 or so even balls. I'm honestly really terrible at measuring these things so the amount of buns my recipe makes varies from batch to batch.

6. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough balls out one at a time into flat circles. Make them as big or small as you want, just remember that you need to be able to put the filling in and close it up.

7. Put your filling in and close the bun up. I usually bring two of the sides in and overlap slightly, squishing them into each other a bit so that they seal, and then get the other two sides and do basically the same thing. Then poke some holes in the non-folded side with a fork so they don't explode.

8. Put your buns on a baking paper lined tray, folded side down, and bake for 10 minutes or until golden on top.

Voila! 

They are truly delicious and best of all you can take them with you as a lunch or snack without the toppings falling off everywhere!