Pizza Buns

I love taking a simple item and seeing what else can be done with it. I’ve posted before about using frozen bread dough to make buns, but there are so many more things that one loaf of dough can be turned into! One of my kids’ favourite things for lunch is pizza. A quick and easy recipe is using the dough is making pizza buns.

Start by defrosting a loaf (or two!) of frozen bread dough in the fridge overnight. Once it’s ready, lightly flour your working space. Take the dough and dust it in flour so it doesn’t stick. Using a rolling pin start to flatten the dough and roll it into a rectangle. Flip it over a few times early in the rolling process so it doesn’t get too sticky. If you would like, you can work some herbs into the dough before rolling. Italian blends, basil, oregano, even parmesan can increase the flavour for something different.

Roll until the dough is about 1cm thick. Start spooning the tomato sauce onto the dough and spread using the back of the spoon. Cover the dough with sauce, leaving a small space all along the edge uncovered.

Once the sauce is spread evenly, you can add your toppings. I like to put the toppings down first then cover in cheese. You can add peppers, mushrooms, ham, pepperoni, whatever your home likes best!

Once the toppings have been placed, start at the closest long edge and start to roll. Gently lift the edge all the way along and fold over. Continue slowly rolling starting at one side and working your way along to the other.

Once you have almost rolled the whole dough, pull the last flat side up and over, pinching the dough to seal it closed. Warm the oven slightly to help the dough rise, but don’t forget to turn it off!

Take a muffin pan and pour a small amount of oil into one cup. Using a pastry brush, or a paper towel if you don’t have a brush, spread the oil into each cup, covering the bottom and sides. Once covered, take a bread knife and gently slice the rolled up dough into 12 even circles.

Carefully place one circle into each muffin cup. Cover loosely with a damp tea towel or saran wrap and place in the warmed oven to rise, leaving the oven light on. Let the pizza buns rise until they are double in size.

Remove the buns, leaving the towel or saran wrap on and set the oven to bake at 375F. Remove the towel or saran wrap once the oven is ready and place the tray in. Bake for 20-25 min until the buns are browning on top and hollow sounding if you tap them.

Remove and let cool. The pizza buns can be placed into a container, or ziploc bag and frozen. For an easy lunch, take the bun out of the freezer, heat and eat or heat and place in a thermos or container to bring for lunch.