PIZZA-POCKETS

Pizza-pockets or mini calzone as I like to call them, are one of my favourite bready snacks to this day. Because what’s better than pizza in bite sized form with all the delicious ‘cheese’ and tomatoes flavours, packed in a steaming, golden brown and crunchy dough pocket, am I right? I thought so. Anyways these super easy pizza pockets need little to no ingredients, are completely fuzz free and if you’re a crazy fast pizza baker you can definitely make them in under 2h. 2h you ask? That’s crazy I’d never spend THAT much time making pizza-pockets, you say. Well let me tell you my friends, these are definitely worth it PLUS more than half of that 2h is the dough proofing which means you’re free to do whatever you please because you just have to wait for your dough to ‘get ready’ anyways.

The recipe down below also includes the easiest ever mozzarella balls recipe there is with only 3 step to follow, sounds too good to be true? Well guess what, it isn’t, because sometimes the best things in life are easy, like making these mozzarella balls, which by the way you can use in any other recipe that includes mozzarella cheese or even enjoy them as they are with some fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. Delicious! Coming back to the pizza pockets they are really easy to make, the dough is whipped up in 3 minutes and then has to rest for 1h. Easy as pie. For the tomato filling the only thing you have to make sure is that they are no too wet otherwise your dough will get soggy, but other than that it’s a walk in the park to make these. So that’s that. I hope I was able to seduce you into making these incredibly good looking, cheesy pizza-pockets. If so, here’s the recipe for you. It’s all yours to try. Let us know in the comments how you liked it if you give it a go that would be A-MAZE-ING, thanks!

Ingredients for the dough:

300g flour (mix of whole wheat and bread flour)
50g chickpea flour
1/2tsp salt
1tsp dry yeast
1tsp agave syrup
190g water (warm)
1tbsp oil
Dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano)

Ingredients for the Mozzarella-Cheese

115g plantmilk (we normally use soy milk)
110g cashews (pre-soaked over night or soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes)
2tbsp nutritional yeast
1tsp apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp onion powder
pinch of salt
2tbsp tapioca starch

Other:

Canned tomatoes (1can) or fresh cherry tomatoes
Garlic
Fresh basil
Dried oregano

For the dough:

1. Combine the flours, the salt and the dry herbs (if using) in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Now combine the agave syrup with the warm water and sprinkle the yeast onto the water. Leave to bloom for 5 minutes.

3. Now combine the yeast mix with the flour and add in the oil. Knead until incorporated. Pour onto your working surface and knead an additional 2 minutes until you have a soft and not too sticky dough. Put into an oiled bowl and let rise for 1h.

For the mozzarella:

1. Put all the ingredients into your food processor. Blend until the mixture is smooth.

2. In a bowl combine 1L cold water with 3tbsp salt. Whisk until the salt is dissolved completely. This is your brine.

3. Pour your cashew mixture into a non-stick pan and heat up whilst constantly whisking. When the mixture starts to get thicker and separates from the bottom of the pan take of the heat.

4. Now take a spoon and place little blobs of the cashew cheese into the brine until you used it all up. Let your mozzarella balls sit in the brine for up to 30 minutes.

Assemble the mini calzone aka pizza pocket:

1. Prepare your tomatoes: either open a can of tomatoes and pour them into a sieve to allow them to drain of their excess liquid, or simply use fresh tomatoes. Then chop and put in a bowl together with minced garlic, salt and dried oregano.

2. Roll out the prepared dough (approx. 2mm). Cut out circles (approx. Ø8cm).

3. Then put 1tbsp of your prepared tomato sauce and 2-3 of your prepared mozzarella balls into the middle of your dough circle, add some fresh basil if you want to. Then fold the dough over so the edges of the circle seal. You basically flip one half of the dough circle over the filling to form a dough pocket. Seal tightly and place on a backing sheet. Proceed doing so with the remaining dough.

4. Bake your pizza-pockets for 15 minutes at 240°C or until they are golden brown.

5. When they come out of the oven you can brush them with some herb-butter and serve with the remaining tomato sauce. Delicious!

For the reel(video) of the recipe on Instagram click here