Stuffed Savory Buns, the super-soft recipe for explosive success.
If there’s a leavened dough that can make everyone agree, adults and kids alike, it’s these stuffed savory buns.
Imagine little clouds of dough, golden on the surface that surprise at the first bite. Whether you’re organizing an aperitif with friends, a birthday buffet, or a fun family dinner, these stuffed rolls are the definitive solution.
The beauty of this recipe lies in its incredible versatility.
Unlike classic pizza or sheet focaccia, these savory buns offer a clean, practical “finger food” experience — perfect to enjoy even standing up.
Also, the dough I propose is designed to stay soft for hours, making them ideal to prepare in advance for your events.
To obtain stuffed buns that melt in your mouth, the secret is slow fermentation. Using a medium-strength flour (such as Type 0 or a mix with Manitoba) allows a strong but elastic gluten network to develop, able to hold the filling well without breaking during baking.
In the version you see in the photo, I chose the timeless pairing of sausage meat and mozzarella, but the variations can be endless.
Although the traditional version calls for oven baking to achieve even browning, these savory buns also work very well in an air fryer or, if you want to indulge, they can be fried.
Calories about 167 per bun
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours 20 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 22
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make the Stuffed Savory Buns
- 3 1/3 tsp fresh baker's yeast
- 1.08 cups water (lukewarm)
- 3.33 tbsp whole milk
- 4 cups Type 0 flour
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1.25 tsp salt
- 12.3 oz sausage meat
- 7 oz mozzarella
- 1.33 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 Baking pan Baking sheet
Preparation of the Stuffed Savory Buns
In a bowl, place the lukewarm milk and water, add the fresh yeast and let it dissolve.
Then add part of the flour little by little, then add the salt, the oil and the remaining flour until you obtain a soft, not sticky, well-integrated dough ball.
Place the resulting dough to rise in a bowl for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Once risen, transfer the dough to a floured work surface and reshape into a ball.
Divide the ball in half to obtain two dough pieces, then let rest for 10 minutes.
After the resting time, roll out two sheets thinly but not too thin, place small mounds of sausage meat and crumbled mozzarella spaced out over one sheet.
Place the second sheet over the first, press with your hands to create circles, then use a 3 1/8 in cookie cutter to cut out the buns.
Rework the leftover dough from the scraps and continue making buns until all the dough is used.
Place the buns on a non-stick baking sheet — I didn’t grease mine, but you can oil the surface if you prefer — and let rest for at least 1 hour in a turned-off oven with the light on.
Shortly before baking, brush the buns with the water-and-oil mix, then bake in a preheated oven at 482 °F for about 10–15 minutes, checking for doneness.
