Mini Pizza, Buns, and Pie Bento

I usually bake on weekend for the school lunches to save time in packing lunches during the week. These are my kids' favourites : chicken, bacon, and leek pie (recipe here); mini pizza (I used the leftover pastry from the pies and spread tomato ketchup, pineapple, ham and cheese toppings); and also ham & cheese steamed buns (steamed buns recipe here, just replace the pork filling with ham and cheese instead).

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken, bacon, and leek pie
2. Ham and cheese steamed bun
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Corn on the cob
5. Baby carrots and lettuce
6. Apple cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Mini pizza
2. Ham and cheese steamed bun
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Corn on the cob
5. Baby carrots and lettuce
6. Banana for recess

Pizza Flavoured Turtle Buns Bento

I saw this idea of cute turtle shaped breads in the Pinterest. Because the kids love the pizza flavoured buns so much, so I used that recipe to create these turtles. (notes : for the turtle shell, I used green food colouring). You may find step by step assembling the turtle in here.

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Pizza flavoured turtle bun
2. Corn on the cob
3. Prawn tofu nuggets (recipe here) and tomato ketchup
4. Carrot sticks
5. Yogurt pouch for recess

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Pizza flavoured turtle bun
2. Corn on the cob
3. Prawn tofu nuggets and sweet chili sauce
4. Carrot sticks
5. Segmented orange for recess

Pizza Flavoured Piggy Buns Bento

These cute piggies are so hard to resist. I made these buns on the weekend with the help of my youngest son. Even though it took some time to make, it was so much fun especially to see him showing some interest in baking. And the best part was that he ate two piggies straight away. It's all worth the effort, I supposed :)

PIZZA FLAVOURED PIGGY BUNS
Recipe adapted from Manu's Menu

Prep time
1 hour 30 mins
Cook time
15 mins
Total time
1 hour 45 mins

Serves: Makes about 20

Ingredients :
Yeast Dough
400 gms – 13.5 oz all purpose flour (you may need a little more)
1 package instant dry yeast (7 gms – ¼ oz.)
1 egg
200 ml – 7 oz. plain yogurt
100 ml – 3.5 oz warm milk
1 pinch of salt

Flaky dough
150 gms – 5.5 oz flour
100 gms – 3.5 oz butter
1 pinch of salt

Filling
Cheese 
ham
Tomato sauce
Oregano

Egg Wash
Egg white
Egg yolk and some milk to brush

Instructions :
1.   Start by making the yeast dough. 
2.   Put all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mix and knead well.
3.   Make it into a ball and keep aside to rise for at least 1 hour.
4.   In the meantime, make the flaky dough by kneading all the ingredients together.
5.   Once the yeast dough has risen, add the flaky dough to it and knead well.
6 .  Roll the mixed dough into a 3 mm – 1.2 inch thick sheet and cut out circles of 6 cm – 2.4 inches in diameter. 
7.   Also cut out smaller circles (3 cm – 1.2 inches in diameter) that you will use to make the noses and ears. 
8.   For the ears, simple quarter the smaller circles.
9.   To make the filling, fry the ham and mix with the tomato sauce and oregano.
10. To assemble your Piggy Buns, put half of the big circles onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. 
11. Add 1 tsp of tomato and oregano sauce and a little piece of cheese in the middle. 
12. Brush the edges with some egg white and place the other half of the big circles on the top. 
13. Press with your fingers to close well.
14. Attach the nose and ears with some egg white wash. 
15. Use black sesame seeds to make the eyes, and for nostrils, use some fennel seeds.
16. Let the piggy buns rise again for 30 minutes.
17. Then brush them with egg yolk wash mixed with a little bit of milk.
18. Bake them in a preheated oven at 190-200°C – 375-390°F for about 15 minutes. 

So, for my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Two pizza flavoured piggy buns
2. Corn on the cob
3. Dutch beef croquettes (recipe here) with sweet chili sauce
4. Rose carved carrot
5. Pink lady apple cuts for recess

And my youngest son had the same lunch as his brother, except he had banana yogurt for recess. The peppa pig picture on the yogurt pouch really matches with the theme :)

You may find those cute panda picks here :

Mini Pizza Bento

This mini pizza is very easy to make. The kids had fun too, they helped me with the toppings:) For the dough, mix 2 cups of self-raising flour and 1 cup of Greek yogurt by hand and knead it until it's not sticky. That's it!.
After that, spread any topping you like. For this pizza, I used pineapple, onion, Roma tomato, sausage, ham, and mozzarella cheese.
Bake the pizza for around 10 minutes at 180C.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Leftover mini pizza
2. Corn on the cob
3. Car shaped hard boiled egg with salt and pepper
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. Apple "rabbit"

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Leftover mini pizza
2. Corn on the cob
3. Fish shaped hard boiled egg
4. Carrot sticks
5. Milk jelly with nata de coco
6. "Humungus" banana

Bento tools I used in this post :

Pizza and Scrolls Bento

I used this simple dough from Gozleme recipe that is very easy and versatile. It can also be used as pizza, scrolls or garlic bread dough. Here is the recipe :

Simple and Easy Dough recipe

Ingredients
400g Greek style plain yoghurt
500g self-raising flour
4 tbsp olive oil

Extra flour for dusting the board

Method
In a bowl, combine the flour and yoghurt and bring together to form a ball
Turn out onto a floured board to knead and roll.
Knead for 2-3 minutes. Cut into 8 portions

Cover with a damp tea towel until ready to use.

Roll a dough into a pizza shape and add toppings. For the topping I put pineapple, ham, pepperoni, olive, mushroom, and Mozzarella cheese. Baked in 180°C oven for 15-20 minutes or until base is golden and crisp.

For the scrolls recipe, you may find it here. I just replace the puff pastry with this dough.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Pizza and scroll
2. "Flower" carrot and a sultana
3. Corn on the cob
4. Hard boiled egg with salt & pepper
5. Rice cracker
6. Banana for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Pizza and scroll
2. "Flower" carrot and a sultana
3. Corn on the cob
4. Hard boiled egg with salt & pepper
5. Rice cracker
6. Kiwi for recess