When you love these pumpkins but love pizza even more, pizza pumpkins were bound to be born. Adorable to prepare for an appetizer or just for dinner. The dough is very soft, making it perfect for these buns. Of course, you can fill them as you like; I used tomato sauce, ham, and mozzarella, simple classics that everyone always loves. But let’s see how to prepare them in the following recipe.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, Halloween
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 10 g fresh yeast (for slower rising use 5 g)
- 2 mozzarella balls
- 3.5 oz ham
- as needed tomato sauce (seasoned)
- 1 egg
- as needed rosemary (for garnish)
Tools
- Kitchen string
Steps
Start by pouring the flour into a large bowl. Separately, dissolve the yeast with the sugar and a bit of water in a second small bowl. At this point, start kneading by pouring the water-yeast mix into the flour, then add water, oil, and finally, when the dough is almost ready, add the salt and knead vigorously until everything is combined and the dough is smooth.
Then let it rise for about an hour in a dry place. Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce and season it to taste as you do when making pizza.
At this point, weigh the dough and divide it into balls of about 80-85 g each and let them rise until doubled. This will take about another hour.
Now cut the mozzarella into cubes and place it in a colander to remove excess water. Cut the ham into small pieces.
Then start preparing your pizza pumpkins by flattening the balls and placing a teaspoon of sauce, mozzarella, and ham inside, and close the ball well. Once you’ve filled all the balls, use kitchen string to form the pumpkins. The simplest method is to cut 4 pieces of string, cross them, place the ball on top, and always attach the two corresponding ends to the center. Alternatively, you can use a single string to wrap around the pumpkin multiple times until you achieve the shape.
At this point, brush the pumpkins with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 30-40 minutes. The buns will be golden brown at the end of baking, so let them cool slightly, cut the string, and gently remove it.
Add a sprig of rosemary for decoration and serve your pizza pumpkins immediately; they are delightful.
All my recipes for SPECIAL AND NOT PIZZAS can be found HERE.
Saby suggests…
Pizza pumpkins are a fun idea to bring to the table even for Halloween. If you want to make them even more festive, you can add food coloring to make them orange.
