Recipe! pizza pockets (from scratch)

Let’s get straight into the recipe! No real story here!! Blah!!!!!!

Makes about 12-14 pizza pockets

Homemade bread pocket

3 cups of white flour (can use wholemeal, but the bread will be a little more dense)
2 teaspoons of dry active yeast
1.5 cups of warm water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of white sugar
olive oil

homemade tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes
4 ripe tomatoes
1 red capsicum
1 celery stalk
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of sweeter (I use maple syrup)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
salt to taste
chilli flakes to taste
dried herbs to taste
1.5 cups of soy mince. If using dry soy mince, make sure it is already soaked (or can use standard beef mince if not vegetarian or vegan)
500 ml of water or vegetable stock
olive oil

NOTE: For the sauce recipe, I like to double the sauce recipe and freeze the sauce and use it for lasagne or bolognese later down the track. It just makes life easier. Making pizza pockets from scratch can be a little time consuming! So, make a big batch of sauce and use it for other meal preps. Or you can just buy the sauce, which also works.

Sauce recipe:

1. chop onions and garlic and in a pot, fry with olive oil until translucent
2. add chilli flakes (I used about 1 teaspoon, but this is optional), fry for about 1 minute
3. chop celery (if you have celery leaves this will also work) and fry with onion, garlic and chilli
4. add tomato paste
5. chop capsicum and ripe tomatoes and add to pot, cook until soften
6. add 1 can of diced tomatoes to the pot and add water or vegetable stock
7. here I would add my mince – I use soy mince, but if you’re not a veggie eater, normal mince will also work
8. stir mixture and simmer on a low heat for a two hours (or until the mixture reduces to the consistency you like. I prefer a thicker sauce. That’s what she said!)

Dough recipe + assembly:

NOTE: that if you double the recipe you can halve it, and make standard old bread or even garlic bread (I’ll have that recipe up soon)! To make the bread, just let it rise for 2 hours. Then knead it a little to knock out the air. And let it rise again for another hour before placing it in the oven.

1. in a bowl, add flour, salt and olive oil
2. mix warm water with sugar and add active dry yeast and stir. Place a cloth over the water and let the yeast “bloom” this will take about 5 mins

3. pour water into bowl and mixture together, until combined
4. knead dough until the dough becomes “smooth” – the dough shouldn’t be sticky or dry, but a little tacky. So, you may need to add more water or flour here

5. rub dough in olive oil and place a towel on top
6. set dough aside for an hour, it should have doubled in size after an hour

7. rub hands in olive oil and rip about a handful of dough into your palm. Flatten dough, so that it’s a disc, slightly larger than your hand
8. in the centre of the dough, sprinkle a little bit of cheese (I used vegan cheese, but you can use dairy cheese), add a tablespoon of sauce and sprinkle a bit more cheese
9. pull edges to the centre until you have sealed the sauce in the dough
10. repeat until you have no dough left (you can freeze the pizza pockets before you bake them they will turn out exactly the same, you just need to defrost them)

11. put the pizza pockets aside and let it rise for about an hour. They will increase in size, so leave some space between the pizza pockets! (As per photo above)
12. pre-heat oven
13. brush olive oil on top of pizza pockets
14. bake pizza pockets for about 20mins or until brown on top

15. they are piping hot out of the oven, so I would wait about 15 mins!
16. keep in an airtight container and store in the fridge. It’s good for about a week. And to serve either microwave or place in the oven for a crispy pizza pocket!