Ingredients

(Makes 8 panzerotti)

Dough

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp instant yeast (check the use by date!)

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan

1 Tbsp olive oil

Quick Bolognese

Olive oil

250g beef mince

1 cup tomato passata

1/4 tsp oregano

Salt

Vegetarian Option

1/2 cup tomato passata

200g buffalo mozzarella, roughly torn (you could use normal grated mozzarella here)

A pinch of dried oregano per panzerotto

To Cook

1 lt of vegetable oil like sunflower or rice

Prep It

Get your dough going asap! Combine warm water and yeast in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and set aside for about 10 minutes to foam. Once you see some action add the flour, salt, Parmesan and olive oil and mix the dough together. Knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth. Alternatively, use the dough hook on your stand mixer. Drizzle some olive oil around the bowl, cover and set aside to prove for about 2 hours, until doubled in size.

While the dough proves make your super quick Bolognese. I’m not sure you can even call this Bolognese as its really just saucy mince but we’ll roll with it. Heat a drizzle of oil in a medium pot on high heat. Add mince and a good pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes, until very browned and all the liquid has disappeared. Add oregano and tomato passata and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, until thick. Season to taste well and set aside for filling later.

Grab your extra passata and oregano and mozzarella ready for filling if your making different flavors. On the bench in front of you you should have your Bolognese, tomato passata, mozzarella, oregano and a little extra flour for rolling your dough.

Roll It

Grab your proved dough and divide it into 8 even balls. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, until roughly 10cm in diameter. The easiest way to get it into a nice round shape is to start with a nice round ball! Be careful not to make these too thin as we don’t want any holes. You risk them bursting when frying!

Fill It

Once you have all your dough balls rolled out, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of Bolognese in the center of 4 of the panzerotti. Keep going if you are doing the one flavor. Alternatively, fill the other 4 with 2-3 tablespoons of passata. Top all with about 2 tablespoons of torn mozzarella and sprinkle over a little oregano. Fold the dough over itself and seal the edges so you end up with a half moon shape. Seal the edges tightly and roll the dough over itself. I can’t stress enough how much you don’t want them to open or get a hole. Set panzerotti aside while you heat up your oil.

Fry It

Place oil in a large deep sided pan or pot. The oil should only come to about half way up the side of the pot or pan as when you add the panzerotti the oil will rise a bit. Heat until about 180°C. You can test this by either putting a small piece of bread into the oil. It should bubble straight away and then turn brown in about 1 minute. Cook panzerotti, one at a time in oil for about 3 minutes, until golden brown and puffed. Turn a couple of times during cooking to colour evenly. The oil can be cooled, strained and kept in an air tight container for your next round!

Eat It!

At an angle otherwise you will end up with filling all over your clothes!