Tomato Onion Mini Pizzas

May 12, 2014, Updated Jan 02, 2018

Cute little mini pizzas topped with tomatoes, onions and cheese. Perfect for individual serving.

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Towards the end of the week I am always motivated to try something different for dinner. It’s not that I don’t experiment with food on other days, I do but my baking addiction [read dessert] usually takes precedence over other things and I always end up baking cakes, cookies and cupcakes on weekdays. Well most of the time! So on weekends I try to cook something special for lunch or dinner. Last week I made these gorgeous Raspberry Nutella Crepes for brunch and this week it was these cute mini pizzas!

I got these mini pizza pans from Calphalon outlet store. They just looked so cute that I had to buy them. These pans are perfect for individual serving if you are planning to make pizzas at home. They would also be great for kids birthday parties, easier to manage and eat!

This is a simple onion and tomato pizza recipe, a classic I would stay but without the tomato sauce. Yes, there’s no sauce in this pizza instead olive oil, dried basil and cheese make the base for these cute looking pizzas.

I used Saf instant yeast for making these pizzas. I have not been paid or asked to say this, it’s just that I have tried a lot of yeast brands but this is the only one which never fails me. This is a really powerful yeast and I highly recommend it. Also the reason I use instant yeast is because it saves me a step. I’m just lazy and impatient when it comes to proofing the yeast. But you can very well use active dry yeast here which will of course need to be proofed first, meaning you mix it with warm water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes till you see froth on top. If there’s no froth on top it means the yeast is dead, just discard the water and start over again.

We gobbled up these pizzas in an instant, yes they are that good. The leftover slices can be frozen for up to a month. When you want to eat them, just heat them again in the oven and they should be good. Make your weekend a little brighter and happier with these mini pizzas : )

Method

In the steel bowl of your stand mixer mix together both flours, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil. Mix using the paddle attachment. Now start adding warm water, as the dough starts coming together I usually change to the dough hook. Knead till the dough is smooth and springs back on poking. This will take 5-6 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can just knead the dough with your hands.

Place the dough in a bowl and coat it nicely with olive oil. Cover with a cling sheet and keep it in a warm place to rise. If it’s really dark and cold where you live, you can preheat your oven to 150 F degrees and then switch if off. Allow it to cool a bit and then place the bowl inside it. An ideal setting would be to place the dough on a table on a bright sunny day. After an hour or so the dough will double in volume. This time will vary depending on the temperature of the place where the dough was kept, mine doubled in 1 hour 15 minutes.

Once the dough has doubled, punch it to release the air. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 475 F degrees and then start working with the dough.

Make 5 medium sized balls from the dough. Sprinkle some cornmeal on the pans, this is optional but it helps the crust from sticking to the pan and also gives a nice crispy texture to the crust. Take 1 ball and simply stretch and spread the dough in the mini pizza pan till the pan is completely covered. Poke the crust with fork all over so that it doesn’t rise much during baking. Repeat till you have 5 mini pizza crusts ready. Drizzle some olive oil on the crust.

Put the crust in the preheated oven at 475 F degrees for 2-3 minutes. This step is optional but I did this to get a crispier crust. If you aren’t bothered about crispier crust, just move to the next step.

Take out the pizza crust from the oven and cover it with some grated cheese. The quantity of cheese depends on how cheesy you want your pizza to be. Sprinkle some dried basil and then put your topping – cut tomatoes/onions. Cover with some more cheese and basil and sprinkle salt and pepper.

Put the pizza in the preheated oven and bake at 475 F degrees for 8-10 minutes or till the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

Sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves on top (optional), cut into slices and serve hot!

* You may freeze the pizza dough for up to 2-3 months. After the dough has risen, lightly spray the dough with nonstick spray or olive oil. Make sure the dough is lightly covered all over with oil. Put the dough in the freezer bag, making sure you squeeze out all the air. Pop the bag in the freezer and it should stay good for 3 month. When you want to make the pizza, just the night before take out the dough from the freezer and put it in the fridge.

Before baking the pizza, let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then spread and stretch the dough and make your crust.

* Pizza sauce can be added in this recipe. Add some cheese on the crust first and then pour the sauce on top. This is to make sure that the crust doesn’t get too soggy with the sauce.

* Add warm water to the dough, not hot and not lukewarm but warm. Ideal temperature is around 115 F degrees. I highly recommend a candy thermometer to make sure you know that the temperature is just right enough for the yeast to work.

Tomato Onion Mini Pizzas

Tomato Onion Mini Pizzas