Ingredients

1 pound ground Italian venison sausage

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped

14–16 ounces pizza sauce

12 ounces shredded mozzarella

DOUGH

2 ½ –3 cups flour

2 ½ teaspoons yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 ½ cups warm water

Directions

DOUGH

In your stand up mixer bowl, fitted with the hook or dough attachment, add the warm water, yeast, garlic powder and sugar. Whisk the ingredients together, and let the mixture rest for 5 minutes. The yeast and sugar in the warm water should foam up. Once it has started to froth, start the mixer on the low setting and gradually add a cup and a half of flour. Continue to gradually add the rest of the flour up to 2 ½ cups total. The dough should be smooth and slightly tacky. 

Flour a work surface, and remove the dough from the bowl, and knead for 5 to 7 minutes on the floured surface. Add flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Form the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel, and allow it to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, approximately 30 minutes to an hour.

While the dough is rising, you will make the filling for the pizza pockets.

FILLING

In a large frying pan, brown the mushrooms and Italian sausage over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Pour into a heat-safe bowl to cool. Pile the meat and mushrooms on one side of the bowl, and drain off liquid that gathers at the bottom. You can also put the meat and mushrooms in a colander in the sink and allow all the liquid to drain off. Once the meat and mushrooms have most of the moisture drained and they are cool enough to handle, add the pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and mix well.

After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and separate into 1 ½ inch sized balls. Using a rolling pin, roll the ball out into a rough rectangular shape 3 to 4 inches wide and 6 to 8 inches tall. The rectangle of dough needs to be very thin, 1 millimeter thick or less. Place a large spoonful of filling on half of the rectangle leaving at least a half inch from three edges of the rectangle. You will be folding the rectangle in half over the filling to make a smaller filled rectangle. Before you fold the dough over on itself, use a brush and lightly brush the egg wash over the half inch of dough that will be sealing the filling in the pocket. Press out any air from the pocket and seal the edges by pressing down the three sides with your fingers. Using a fork, press the dough along all four edges to create a textured pattern around the perimeter of the pizza pocket.

In a large pot, heat 2 to 3 inches of oil to 325 F. Gently place 2 or 3 pizza pockets in the pot of oil once it is up to temperature, and fry on the one side until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Turn each pizza pocket with metal tongs in the oil, and fry the other side down for an additional 2 minutes.

Using metal tongs gently remove the pizza pockets from the oil and place on a plate lined with 2 to 3 layers of paper towels to drain and cool slightly. Continue frying the batches of pizza pockets until they are all cooked.

Enjoy hot off the plate just as they are, or dip them in additional pizza sauce or ranch dressing.