Santa Claus Buns are soft balls of pizza dough, filled with ham and cheese, perfect for brightening up your holiday table and serving as a side instead of bread. They are very easy to make, delicious, and very cute. If you don’t have fresh yeast, you can replace it with 200 g of sourdough starter, in which case the rising times will increase significantly.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Rest time: 2 Hours
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 4 Pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
0.4 oz fresh yeast
1.25 cups water
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tsps fine salt
1 tsp sugar
9 oz cooked ham
9 oz emmental cheese (sliced)
as needed olive oil (to brush Santa Claus)
8 sugar eyes
4 black olives
7 oz spreadable cheese
1 capsule activated charcoal
2 sausages
2 slices prosciutto

Steps

Prepare the starter with 0.4 oz of fresh yeast, 1.7 oz of water, a tablespoon of flour taken from that for the dough, and a teaspoon of sugar.
Let it sit for a few minutes until the mixture doubles and forms a generous foam.
This way, you will have activated the yeast.
Place the flour on a work surface, add the starter, water, and oil, and start kneading.
Add the salt last, continuing to knead.
You need to obtain a smooth dough. Flour the bottom of the bowl, place the dough ball, putting some flour on the surface. Cover with plastic wrap, then with a clean towel and a blanket.
Let it rise for 2/3 hours (if the environment is particularly warm, even less time will be enough).
Let it rise for 2/3 hours (if the environment is particularly warm, even less time will be enough).
Divide it into four equal parts, you should obtain four Santa Claus figures.
From each of these parts, you need to obtain a ball of about 3.5 oz, two balls of about 2 oz, 6 balls of about 0.35 oz. Let them rise for another hour or so, they should almost double.
Flatten the 3.5 oz and 2 oz balls with your fingers to form circles, fill each disc with 0.7 oz of cooked ham and 0.7 oz of sliced emmental. Leave only the smallest balls empty.
Seal the dough well by pinching it with your fingers so that the filling does not leak during cooking.
Now form your Santa Claus figures. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place a filled 3.5 oz ball as the body, the two 2 oz balls will be the head and hat, while the 6 smaller balls will be arms, legs, pompom, and belt (stretch it and make it adhere with a little water to the body).
Brush the surface with olive oil and bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes.
Once baked, let them cool slightly and decorate them. I used sugar eyes, but half a black olive and spreadable cheese would work just as well. For the nose, I used half a black olive and decorated the belt by brushing a water-dampened activated charcoal tablet. Use a little spreadable cheese to attach the pieces.
For the buckle, I used a slice of sausage that I pierced in the middle.
I used half a slice of prosciutto to color the hat.
Fill a syringe with spreadable cheese and decorate Santa Claus’s face.
Decorate the beard, pompom, and the edge of the hat.
Here are your delicious buns ready!