Homemade Hot Pockets

My life seems to revolve around dough balls...yet if you asked me if I really had other things to do, I undoubtedly would say yes. I have a hard time swallowing the idea of paying over a dollar a piece for a dough ball stuffed with twelve cents worth of cheese. It really seems totally impractical to me, especially since I seem to have the 30 minutes it takes to make the pockets...and plenty of cheese. I may in fact, have more cheese than should be humanly allowed in one fridge. We do like our cheese. So, today I made cheese, mushroom, herb and Alfredo stuffed hot pockets. Given the perfectly blissful influx of farm-fresh herbs from Wendy and the impeccable oyster mushrooms from the local Oriental market...on sale...I had to do it. Thankfully my family received these little dough balls with a full measure of satisfaction and joy. Meaning? Yes, I will make them again.

Start with oven rise pizza dough:
Oven rise pizza dough (like D'Journo for your freezer)
6 cups bread flour
2 1/4 cups water
1T baking powder
1T yeast
1T salt
1/4 cup oil.
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a mixer and knead 5 minutes. Let dough rest 5 minutes.
For hot pockets, divide the dough into 12 little balls...

After the wedge of cheese I filled with a 1/2 cup scoop of this filling.
Mushroom Alfredo filling

1 lb mushrooms, sliced (I used oyster mushrooms but any will do)

1 medium onion, chopped

2T garlic infused olive oil

1T garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used a combination of basil, thyme, parsley and rosemary)

1 cup prepared Alfredo sauce (yea, I used some pre-made stuff Tara gave me...it was easy!)

all purpose seasoning blend (I used my blend...to taste...about 2 tsp)

Directions:

Saute mushrooms and onion in oil over medium heat. Add the garlic after 5 or 6 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients and stir until well coated. Cool slightly before using as filling for hot pockets. 1/2 cup scoops are just about right.

Pull up the sides like this and pinch tightly...

To bake for dinner right now : Place seam side down on a lightly oiled sheet pan. I use stoneware. It seems to give a much crispier crust. Bake 425 degrees 20-25 minutes.

To freeze for dinner later: freeze baked pockets after cooling. OR Freeze the uncooked pockets on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper until solid (about 2 hours) transfer to gallon size freezer bag. Bake 425 degrees from frozen 30-35 minutes. If frozen baked...re-heat via microwave 1 1/2 half-2 minutes on high. Very fast and easy dinner or lunch. Much cheaper than the commercially made pockets with lots of additives and junk.

Enjoy your dough ball stuffed with cheese and saucy herb mushrooms. I know we did!

Feel free to goof around and find your own favorite hot pocket. We have had them with almost any flavor used for pizza or sandwiches. Such an insane number of ideas including but not limited to: Pepperoni, broccoli cheese, ham and cheese, pepper steak and cheese, garden veggies and cheese. Like I say, cheese stuffed dough balls. Main cost is the cheese. Oh and the meat (if you eat meat). Great convenience food. Little price.

There you go.