In our household we usually suffer from a chronical lack of snacks (ie type of food you can instantly grab in case of sudden hunger and/or in moments when I’m too tired to get myself to cook). Since I refuse to buy snacks of type “processed food” (think chips, packaged cakes and cookies, sugary breakfast cereals, etc) – I need to be constantly searching for ideas for homemade snacks.

My favorite snack is however a piece of fruit, usually an apple which I would core and slice up, drizzle with little lemon juice and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. But then, sometimes, I do crave something different. A couple of days ago, when I was baking our weekly “dosis” of bread, I cut off some dough and made these bite-sized breads, called “bocconcini” by our neighbors. Nothing like a home made snack – especially if it’s so simple to prepare.

Ingredients:
350g flour
16g fresh yeast
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of cane sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
for brushing: olive oil + freshly ground pepper + salt

Filling:
1 can tuna (80g), drained
a pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
5 black olives pitted and finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp grated gouda cheese (or similar)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 Tbsp sour cream

1. Prepare the dough as you would do for the bread: dissolve the yeast and sugar in little lukewarm water and add it to the flour, previously mixed with salt and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon, then knead until obtaining a smooth, elastic dough. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.
2. In the meantime prepare the filling: mix the tuna with a fork, add salt and pepper, black olives, cheese, rosemary and sour cream. Set aside.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/2 cm thick and using a small, round (cookie)cutter cut out the bocconcini (35 more or less, depending on the cutting size) and place them on a baking tin, lined with baking paper.

4. Press each one in the middle, using your thumb, in order to create a little “hole” for the filling and brush them with olive oil-salt-pepper mix. Put a teaspoon (or so) of filling on each bocconcini, then transfer the baking tin in the preheated oven (200 degrees Celsius) and bake for about 12 minutes, until golden.
5. They taste best when still warm (so more or less straight from the oven).

Have a bite!