#146: Homemade Pizza Pockets

I found this recipe on heavenly homemakers and put it on our January menu. Then I joined ww and realized this was NOT going to be a points friendly meal. So I had to come up with a way to keep it on the menu (it was pizza after all!) but still be able to eat it. So I found a whole wheat pizza crust recipe and substituted that crust instead.
Here is the recipe for the whole wheat pizza crust that I used as my base.  It was an easy recipe, but since you have to let the dough rise, it took a little while to make. 
The original recipe had you make your own pizza sauce. Yeah, that's one step I knew I could cut down since I had pizza sauce already open! So I skipped that step too.  So basically I used this recipe to follow the steps to assemble and bake. : ) (See below)

Overall we really liked these pizza pockets, however my dough was too thick because these were basically stuffed crusts pizza pockets.  : )  Lots of dough, barely any filling.  I'll make these again, but I have to work on my technique on rolling out the dough. 

Ingredients

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
1.In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

2.Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. (Or just continue to let it run in your kitchen aid w/the dough hook attachment for 5+ minutes.)  :)
Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3.When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.

4.  Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, cut into desired amount of pizza pockets (I got 16 out of my dough)

Then I followed most of the rest of the original recipe:
Place one tablespoon of pizza sauce in the center. (Mine must have been smaller, because I got 1 tsp of sauce on each of mine). Put in a small amount of your choice of toppings. Fold the dough in half. Use a fork to pinch the edges together.

Lay Pizza Pockets on a cookie sheet lined with parchment (or wax) paper. Freeze for about one hour. Pop them off the cookie sheet and put them into a freezer bag…and back into the freezer

To Bake your Pizza Pockets

For frozen Pizza Pockets, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. If the Pizza Pockets are thawed, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

WW + points will depend on toppings and number of crusts/pockets you get.  Ours (for 16) was 6 pts each (filling was sauce, cheese, peppers and black olives)