Pizza Pockets
Makes about 12.
By Dennis W. Viau; an original recipe.
You’ve likely heard of “Hot Pockets” snacks. You can make them yourself with phyllo dough, and they are easy. Wrap pizza ingredients in pastry sheets and bake until golden. Then enjoy. This recipe and video were part of an unpublished course teaching how to work with phyllo. I liked these so much, I wanted to feature them on my web site.
Ingredients:
1 package phyllo dough pastry sheets, thawed
About ½ cup (120ml) melted butter or clarified butter
48 slices pepperoni
About ½ cup pizza sauce (see below)
2 to 3 ounces (60 to 85g) shredded mozzarella cheese
Optional: Oregano for seasoning
Directions:
If you don’t have pizza sauce (which is a little thick), you can make your own by simmering regular spaghetti sauce in an open skillet, stirring it often, over medium heat until it thickens almost to a paste. Adding a good pinch of dried oregano to the sauce before cooking will give the sauce more of a pizza flavor.
Working with phyllo dough pastry sheets can be a little challenging because if the pastry dries out it becomes too brittle to work with. I slightly dampen a cloth and cover the stack of extra sheets while I’m working, taking out one sheet at a time and keeping the others covered. It will help keep the pastry soft and pliable. Be careful not to wet the cloth too much, however, because water can cause the sheets to stick together.
Arrange a phyllo dough sheet on the counter and brush lightly with melted butter. Arrange a second sheet on top and brush again. Finally, add a third sheet, but do not brush.
Toward one end, in the center arrange four pieces of pepperoni, leaving a border uncovered along one end. Spread the pepperoni with a little pizza sauce and then arrange some mozzarella cheese on top. Optionally, you can garnish the cheese with a sprinkle of oregano flakes. You can add additional pizza toppings, but keep the amount small because the filling needs to be wrapped in the phyllo.
Fold the pastry sheet, at the filling end, covering most of the filling. Brush along the long center with melted butter and fold over one long side, covering the center. Brush again and fold over the other side. You will be folding the sheets in long thirds. Brush the pastry again and then, starting at the filled end, roll the dough up to enclose the filling in a square flat packet.
Heat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Arrange the packets, or Pizza Pockets, on a baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes until lightly brown. Let cool a little and eat warm.
If you believe this recipe is worth having, please consider making a donation toward this web site's maintenance. Thank you.
