Stuffed Pizza Buns

I have a thing for baking buns. A soft corner. An addiction. Name it what you like. But I simply adore baking buns!

I just love working on the dough and shaping various types of buns and getting experimental with different kinds of fillings and then of course there is the eating part... and I absolutely love eating them! :D

Here are is a peak of my past creations:

• Potato Stuffed Buns
• Coconut Stuffed Buns
• Savoury Buns
• Jam Filled Buns
• Hokkaido Bread Bunnies

A part of me loves the kitchen and would love to stay in there all day trying out new dishes and feeding my family some yumsome variety. But then there is the other part of me who simply hates entering the kitchen to churn out daily meals. I wonder how this can be possible and secretly suspect if I am two personalities within one :P

But then hey, doesn't routine bore everyone? Experimental cooking and churning out new dishes is exciting while in the case with everyday cooking, there is no real excitement instead only a sense of urge to get something on the plate to feed the family on time. Bah! I hate monotony and try to break it in every little possible way that I can!



One day sometime two weeks back, I had to get something ready for lunch, and quick!

At any given instance I have a ton of fancy recipe ideas in my head but sadly I shove them away and opt for the boring 'to-go' quickie recipe that I have made many times over. I guess that is exactly where I am doing wrong. I tend to give way to monotony to take over me and later sit and crib about it... not done right?!

I had planned to bake a pizza that day as I simply did not want to cook over the stove! But can you believe even that sounded boring to me that day?

So yeah, I decided to give a pretty make-over to the pizza and give it the form of a bun. It gave a chance to play around with the dough and give them a appealing new look! :)

There you go... monotony can be kicked right out by just simple changes in daily routine, agree?

Makes: 7 Buns

Time (approx): 

• Prep - 20 mins
• Proofing - 60 mins
• Shaping - 20 mins
• Baking - 15 mins

Ingredients 

For Bun:

Wheat Flour - 2 and 1/2 cup

All Purpose Flour (APF) - 1/2 cup

Warm Water - 3/4-1.5 cup

Instant Yeast - 3 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tbsp

Olive Oil - 1/2 tbsp

You can also make you dough using Cornmeal and Wholewheat flour. Since I baked the Cornmeal Bread, I have a new fancy for cornmeal and so made these buns with a mixture of cornmeal and wholewheat flour. Here is the Wholewheat Cornmeal Bread recipe. Use this link to make the dough and then follow this recipe to make the pizza buns.

For Filling:

Onion- 1 cup, finely chopped

Red Bell Pepper - 1/2, finely chopped

Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/2, finely chopped

Green Bell Pepper - 1/2, finely chopped

Tomato - 1, finely chopped

Baby Corn - 4-5, finely chopped

Tomato Sauce - as needed

Pizza Topping/Italian Seasoning - as needed

Cheese - 1-2 cubes, grated.

Method:

• In mildly warm water, add sugar and yeast. Allow to sit for 4-5 minutes. The solution should begin to froth up and bubbles should appear on top.

• Mix together APF, Wheat flour, salt, oil, proofed yeast mix. Add extra water or flour as needed to make a firm, yet slightly sticky dough.

• Keep this dough in a well greased bowl, undisturbed for about an hour or hour and a half, covered with a damp cloth or with cling wrap.

 

• After about an hour or hour and a half, the dough would have doubled in quantity.
• Punch down the dough and deflate it.
• Dust your work floor with some flour and then place the dough ball which you can then roll out into a round of about 1/2 inch thickness.
• Using a kitchen knife, make lengthwise and breadth wise cuts across to get even sized portions.

• Lightly grease your palms and take one portion of the dough at a time to work with. 
• Smear some tomato sauce over it and place an assortment of the chopped veggies the way you like and garnish with grated cheese.
• Now gently bring together the ends of the dough to make a ball. Pinch the ends to seal and gently pat the dough ball to flatten it a bit, and place it fold side down in the baking tray.
• Repeat for all other portions and keep aside for another 10-15 minutes.

 

• Smear the tops with some olive oil and sprinkle a dash of Italian seasoning or herbs on top.
• Preheat the oven to 170C and bake these buns for about 8-12 minutes or until the crust start to get golden brown.
• Take them out and gently brush olive oil or milk on top to give a gloss and to soften them a little.

And now for a confession - I forgot to add in salt in the dough! Wuaaa... yes! :( I was made to realise the value of such a humble ingredient and bowed to it with admiration! The flavour of these buns was way lesser than it should have been. But then, thanks to the burst of veggies inside and the Italian seasoning these buns were savoured with some tomato ketchup :) Tee heee!! :D