Frozen Pizza Pockets: Taste Test Tuesday

Hey Everybody! I thought it would be fun to start a weekly feature on my blog called "Taste Test Tuesday." The concept is that every Tuesday I will post a recipe that Wes and I have tried the previous week. It will be a brand new recipe to us and we will rate it for you!! The idea came about after a few weeks of feeling like we were eating the same thing all the time! So, here's the first installment, enjoy! And if you have suggestions, leave me a comment.

Frozen Pizza Pockets

adapted from Advantage Freezer Cooking

Here are the casts of characters: 1 pound frozen bread dough (thawed), 6-8 slices deli ham, pepperonis, 1 cup pizza sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and an beaten egg.

Recipe:

Assembly Directions: Thaw bread dough. Pinch off pieces about 1/3 – 1/2 C. Each loaf should yield about 7 sandwiches. On a floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle. Don’t roll it too thin or the filling will seep out. Put filling ingredients in a line down the center. Fold the long ends into the middle and pinch them together. Fold the short ends up and pinch into the folded long ends. Turn the sandwich seam side down and flatten it with your fingers. This will cause the dough to “stick” and keep the sandwich from coming “unraveled”.

Filling: You’ll have to “play with” your ingredients a bit to figure out what is “just right” for you. A little bit of peperonni, cheese and ham goes a long way in these sandwiches. Use up your cooking day leftovers!
The hardest ones to fill are the ones with sauce. It wants to seep out but you’ll get the hang of it.
Non-pizza sandwiches taste good with a sauce in them – I used either a mayo and mustard combo or some Thousand Island dressing on the ham sandwiches. Yummy!

Cooking and Freezing Directions: I only tried cooking the sandwiches and then freezing them. The dough will rise in the oven so the sandwiches will come out cooked much larger than when they went in (a real revelation for someone who doesn’t bake “from scratch” very often). Lay the sandwiches seam side down on a sprayed, foil lined cookie sheet. I also did an egg wash (one whisked egg brushed on the top) on mine to give them that great color. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned about 15-20 minutes. Cool completely. Wrap individually in foil. Label and freeze.

To serve: Thaw. Reheat for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees or in a toaster oven. Reheating in the microwave will cause you to lose the “crispness” but using a wrapper from the store purchased hot pockets can help.

Stacy's comments: These little things were more difficult to assemble than I expected! They ended up shaped like dog bones....haha. Oh well, we can't all be Julia Child. They baked up very nicely and had a nice color. I used bread dough that had some whole wheat flour in it. Here they are right before going into the oven.

Here was the finished product. Some of the pockets leaked a little but not too bad. These went right onto the dinner table, but you can also let them cool completely and then freeze them.

Wes' rating: 5 stars....He really liked these.

Stacy's rating: 4 stars.....I wasn't sold on them. They were good, but a lot of work! :)