Breakfast Pockets

I made these for dinner last night, and they were REALLY good! A bit time-consuming, but since it makes a lot (we had several pockets leftover for the freezer, which means Luke will get a hot breakfast on a school day in the weeks to come, which will make him really happy!) I was okay with that.

You do make a bread dough, but it was really easy and totally worked. In fact, now that I have this dough recipe, I’m thinking of all kinds of stuff to fill these pockets with! It makes a light, not-tough bread that’s perfect for filling with something, and dough that was very easy to work with.

I mostly followed the original recipe, found here. My only change was to use crumbled bacon instead of sausage, since that’s what I had on hand (and what we prefer). I just sprinkled it over the top of the egg filling when I had it on the dough already, so it stayed crispy. That meant that instead of frying the sausage with the onion, I just needed to saute the onion in a tiny bit of butter before I added the egg and hash browns later.

A note about the filling: instead of frozen hash browns, thawed, I just bought Simply Potatoes hash browns (I used the southwest seasoned ones – these are found in the refrigerated section of the grocery near eggs). And, next time, I will omit the hash browns completely. We just don’t eat a lot of potatoes around here, and Luke even commented that he loved them, but next time he’d like no hash browns. To me, it was just filler. I’ll add a couple more eggs to make up the difference in volume.

Dough
1 1/2 Tbl yeast (2 packets)
1/2 c warm water (110 degrees – I microwaved for about 30 seconds)
3/4 c evaporated milk (110 degrees – again, microwave, but only about 20 seconds because it’s not as cold as the water to start with)
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c flour

Filling
1 lb bulk sausage (or bacon, as described above)
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 1/2 c hash brown potatoes (thawed or use Simply Potatoes)
7 large eggs
3 Tbl milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 c cheddar cheese, shredded

Dough:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the water.
Add milk, oil, sugar, egg, salt, and 2 cups flour; whisk until smooth.
Add enough flour until it makes a soft dough but do not knead. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Filling:
Cook the sausage and onion over medium heat until browned. Drain. Whisk the eggs, milk and spices together in a bowl. Add the hash browns and egg mixture to the pan. Cook and stir until set. Sprinkle with cheese and keep warm.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Punch down the dough and cut into 16 equal pieces.
Roll or stretch each piece into 7 in circle on a floured surface. Top with 1/3 c filling, fold, and pinch shut (I didn’t have any problems with filling oozing out while baking, and I just pinched them closed with my fingers). Bake for 15-20 minutes.

To freeze:
Allow to cool completely. Once cooled, place in the freezer on the baking sheet until frozen. Store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.