I saw a fantastic BuzzFeed Tasty video this week for cheese-stuffed breadsticks, and I simply had to have a go at making them myself and Halloween coming up, I had to give them a creepy twist. In the video, they use a tube of pizza dough but that’s not my style so I adapted my usual pizza dough recipe to make it a little easier to handle and created my own Bloody Bones!

Ordinarily, my pizzas are very high hydration doughs which would make creating the bone shapes as easy as picking up a sleeping cat!  Reducing the water and going for a slow prove overnight in the fridge made them much easier to work with. (Note I use a bit less yeast too as you don’t need as much for such a long prove.)

For this recipe, chose either ready grated or sliceable mozzarella – you don’t want a big, soft ball of buffalo mozzarella or burrata here as they are far too moist and the bloody bones will end up a soggy mess. Brushed your bones with olive oil and sprinkle with a mix of Italian herbs mixed with garlic salt to pump up the flavour (but if you have a jar of my Italian Seasoning to hand, please do use that).

I make my Full Bodied Tomato Sauce in large batches and freeze it in 1-2 cup measures which makes this spooky seasonal treat very quick and I do recommend you try it, but you can whip up a sauce by cooking a little garlic in some olive oil over medium heat before stirring in a tin of plum tomatoes with a little salt, pepper and some chopped basil (or a spoonful of pesto) and cooking whilst the bones bake.

Bloody Bones-7

These Bloody Bones have crisp ends with a really tasty, savoury topping thanks to the herby parmesan topping. When broken to expose their gooey, stretchy cheesy bone marrow middle, they are begging to be dipped into a bowl of steaming hot thick, rich tomato sauce blood! Enjoy your Halloween and if this reaches you too late for the festivities this year, why not Pin it for next?

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Bloody Bones!
A fun if gruesome way to enjoy Halloween! Cheese stuffed "bones" with rich tomato sauce to dip your broken bones into!
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Italian
: 1027 kcal
Author: Just Jo
Ingredients
  • 200 g tipo 00 flour plus extra for shaping
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 5 g fast action yeast
  • 1-2 tsp olive oil
  • 140-160 ml Approx cold water
  • 50 g mozzarella ready grated or a block you have to slice are best, not creamy white buffalo mozzarella
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried parsley
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp garlic salt
  • 1-2 tsp parmesan grated
  • 2 tsp olive oil for brushing
  • 1 cup Full Bodied Tomato Sauce to serve
Instructions
  1. Mix the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and enough water to make a soft dough - you don't want it sticky so err on the side of caution.
  2. Mix well until well blended and smooth then grease your bowl and leave to prove for an hour minimum. They are significantly better if you pop it in the fridge over night for a cold bulk prove - the flavour is so much fuller. Just bring to room temp for an hour before using if needed.
  3. Preheat the oven to 220˚C.
  4. Flour the work top well and pat/roll out the pizza dough to a square no bigger than 12 inches (you don't want it too thin here).

  5. Cut into 8 long strips about 1.5 inches wide. Sprinkle the cheese on the bottom half of each strip, leaving a little border around the sides plus about 1.5 inches from the bottom.

  6. Fold the dough strips down over the cheese and pinch lightly to seal. Cut a slit vertically down from each narrow end not quite an inch then transfer to a baking sheet, opening up the ends to give a cartoon "bone" appearance.

  7. Brush with oil lightly then mix the dried herbs together and sprinkle over. Grate over a little parmesan then bake for 12-14 minutes until dry to the touch and a little puffed up.
  8. Cool for a couple of minutes before serving with the tomato sauce reheated and ladled into little dipping bowls.
Recipe Notes

You can use whatever tomato sauce you like to dip your bones into - a little pot of sriracha would be my second choice, Hungry Hubby would be happy with his Wilkin & Sons posh ketchup!

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