On my way home from work last week I got a wild urge to make something with fresh bread dough. I know what you’re thinking, bread dough on a week night!! It only took two hours from start to finish, not an every-night endeavour to be sure, but when you’ve heard the call of the dough you’re powerless to resist.
I had a strange mishmash of ingredients in my fridge, not quite enough to make a real pizza and I wanted something you could eat with your hands. Thinking back to the cinnamon buns I made a couple of weeks ago, and the left over cream cheese I had, swirly pizza buns were born! I wasn’t trying particularly hard to make these low-calorie but they turned out to be pretty healthy none the less.
Swirly Pizza Buns
Makes 13 buns
Dough:
1 cup warm water (not hot!)
1 tbsp sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Filling:
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp water
1 block light cream cheese room temp
3 large green onions, sliced
175g cooked turkey, chicken or ham (I used turkey)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
For the dough:
Preheat the oven to 175 if you have a cold kitchen like I do.
Combine the water, sugar and yeast and stir. Set it aside until the yeast has dissolved and become foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the oil, flour and salt and mix until it comes together. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with the fresh rosemary (I forgot) and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if the dough is sticky , about 5 minutes. Lightly grease a bowl, add the dough turning to coat, and cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft free spot until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Increase the oven temperature to 375.
Mix the tomato paste, water, dried parsley, dried rosemary, garlic and onion and a few grinds of pepper in a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside. You can of course use pre-made pizza sauce if you have it. I did not, but luckily had a can of tomato paste kicking around.
When the dough has doubled in volume, gently punch it down to remove the air and transfer it to a lightly floured surface and shape into a rough rectangle. Roll out the dough to form a large rectangle. I didn’t measure mine but it was approx 20″ long by 10″ wide. It doesn’t really matter what size, just make it big and it should only be about 1/3″ inch thick.
Spread the rolled out dough evenly with the cream cheese getting as close to the edges as you can. Spread the tomato paste mixture on top of the cream cheese. Add the turkey and sprinkle on the green onions and parmesan cheese. Grind black pepper over the top and lightly sprinkle with salt.
Roll tightly into a log starting with the long end and ending with the seam facing down. Cut into about 1 1/4″ slices and place into a parchment lined baking dish lightly sprayed with cooking spray with the cut side up. Brush the tops with the beaten and egg and let rest for 15 minutes.
Bake for about 45 minutes, turning the pan once, until puffy and nicely browned on top.
The last couple of these buns were a little dry so I cut them in half, toasted them and spread a healthy amount of fresh avocado on top and that was my dinner, and my God were they good! Just a suggestion……
Per Serving (1 bun): 198 calories, 5g fat, 25g carbs, 9g protein, 497mg sodium, 1g fiber.
