Pizza Buns

              I came across a recipe at King Arthur Flour for what they called "Pizza Buns".  Pizza being the one food all of my kids can agree upon, I was intrigued.  It is a savory form of the cinnamon bun.  A new way to serve up an old dish, in this case pizza, is a great way to excite everyone about lunch or dinner.
              It starts out in the form of stromboli, so this enables you to place a filling in the dough, and then also top it with more toppings.  Since you are going to be slicing the stromboli prior to cooking you can have toppings placed to please everyone.
               It does take time to make, since you are making the dough and it needs to rise twice. If you have no time during the week this is something you can make on a weekend and then freeze for during the week.  The results are worth the work.



Ingredients  (Slightly adjusted from King Arthur Flour)

1. 1/3 cup lukewarm water
2. 1/2 cup warm milk (I heat up the milk for 20 seconds in the microwave)
3. 3 Tbl olive oil
4. 2 Tbl potato flour
5. 2 cups all purpose flour
6. 1 1/2 cups bread flour
7. 1 Tbl sugar
8. 2 1/2 tsp salt
9. 1 tsp garlic powder
10. 2 tsp active dry yeast

Toppings- they can be diverse, here are just a few ideas.

1. Pizza sauce
2. Cheese (Mozzarella or Monterey Jack, or a mix of your favorite pizza cheese's)
3. Crumbled sausage if you like.
4. Veggies that you would like to put on a pizza. (Should be chopped finely.  I used sliced tomatoes.)

First, you need to activate the yeast.  Do this by dissolving it in 1/4 cup warm water and 1/4 tsp sugar.  It should begin to bubble after a few minutes.  Give it time to activate and go to the next steps.

In a bread machine or a mixing bowl add all of the ingredients in order.  Add the yeast last once it is activated.  It should only take 5 minutes to get all bubbly.

Start the bread machine on the dough cycle and let it go.  Once the kneading stage was done, I let it rise for 90 minutes.  I should also say that I needed to add 2 Tbl extra of milk because the dough wasn't coming together.  Remember humidity levels affect the dough, so if the dough is too crumbly after kneading for a few minutes add a teeny bit more liquid at a time.  I added 1 Tbl and then the other when I saw more was needed.

In a mixer just turn the kneading blade on and let it mix.  Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, place it on a prepared surface.  I used the parchment paper I was going to cook it on.  I sprayed it with non stick spray first.  I then rolled it out to make a 14 inch by 18 inch rectangle.

Sprinkle the cheese and sausage.  I just used cheese.  Then roll it up width wise.  Now you have a stromboli.  Take a serrated knife and slice the roll. I got 13 slices out of it.

Take the slices and just press them down to flatten a little.  Cover and let the dough rise again for about another 60 minutes to 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Let the buns cook for 15 minutes.  My buns puffed up in the middle.  After the 15 minutes, I took them out and with a large spoon just flattened the buns out again.

Then I placed the pizza sauce on each bun, and the toppings.  Place the buns back in the oven for another 15 minutes or until the cheese bubbles.

They are great with a salad.  You can also store any leftovers in the fridge or freezer.  Just reheat in the oven.