Tempting Italian Pizza Buns
One of my favourite panini in Italy is a soft roll stuffed with meats, cheese and other goodies. I like it because you can buy it and carry it down the street; I guess they would be the equivalent of a pizza pocket. These Tempting Italian Pizza Buns can be stuffed with anything you like. Whatever you do, don’t put any tomato sauce inside; I use marinara as a side for dipping. In the video I stuff them with capicollo (pork cold cut) and cheese. My favourite are stuffed with rapini, sausage and onions. Everything is pre-fried and then it becomes the little treasure inside. Try to use two items or at the most 3 inside these buns. You can put them in the refrigerator, and they can be frozen. They make the perfect all-in-one sandwich.
The Inspiration behind this bun
My nonno Salvatore loved fried rapini with sausage; in fact, most Italians love this dish and it is on many lunch menus. The buns stuffed with rapini, sausage and onions that I make are a tribute to nonno Salvatore. When I am in Italy, I enjoy the buns stuffed with ham and cheese; and so, the idea for this recipe came about. Sometimes I would stop by my favourite bakery in Cefalù and pick the stuffed buns up on the way to the beach and they became a mid-morning snack. Today, I am stuffing these pockets with capicollo and cheese because not everyone in my family likes rapini as it is an acquired taste. You can also substitute other vegetables. I like fried peppers, onions and mushrooms in this pocket. Remember not to use anything to soggy in the filling, or the bun won’t retain its shape.
Making your own bread dough is easy. Don’t be intimidated. It is simply a combination of flour, water, yeast, sugar and it’s done. I love this dough because it doesn’t need to rise. If you don’t like to make your own dough get some frozen pizza or bread dough at your local bakery. It’s all good!!
Blanche some rapini and fry it.
Fry up some onions to golden brown.
Take two Italian sausages and remove from casings and fry up with the onions.
Rapini, onions and sausage ready for the buns.
Tempting Italian Pizza Buns
Pockets of flavour!
Ingredients
The Filling
- 1 bunch rapini blanched and fried
- 2 Italian sausage links removed from casings
- 2 large onions thinly chopped fried
The Buns
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tbsp quick rise yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing buns
- grated parmesan cheese sprinkle on buns
Dipping sauce
- Marinara Sauce
Instructions
The filling
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Clean and wash the rapini. Cut and discard all the hard long stems. Place the rapini in a pot of boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Remove to a cold bath.
Take the sausage out of the casings and break it up. Fry until golden brown. Remove from the pan.
In the same pan add 2 tbsp of canola oil and fry onions. Remove and mix into sausage.
Drain the rapini well. Cut up into small pieces. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to frying pan and fry the rapini.
Add the rapini to the onions and sausage and mix well. Set aside
The Buns
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Preheat oven to 425 F.
Combine the warm water with the yeast and sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Put the flour and salt in a mixer.
Pour the liquid into the mixer at low speed.
The dough will form a ball.
Put it onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes.
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Cut dough into two parts and each part into six.
Form circles. I use the bottom of a glass to press down the dough. (see video)
Fill each circle with your choice of ingredients. Don't put too much in the centre.
Pinch the dough together, shaping each piece into a ball by pulling the edges under.
( see video)
Put on a large pan lined with parchment paper.
Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Let the buns sit on the pan for 5 minutes.
Cook for 25 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Keep the stuffing ingredients simple. You can use pepperoni, peppers,mushrooms,etc. Try to keep it to a maximum of 3 ingredients per bun.
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