Crunchy, flaky puff pastry with a homemade tomato sauce and melted mozzarella. These mini pizza are really easy to make for a crowd and will be a hit at any party, potluck or family gathering.
If there's something you can always find at any kids' birthday parties in Italy is Pizzette, mini pizza with the classic topping of tomato and mozzarella which every kid in the World loves.
You could find 3 main types of Pizzette, individual rounds, a large sheet pan pizza cut into small squares, or puff pastry ones. For some reason, the unconventional puff pastry mini pizzas were always the most requested and the first to finish. I believe it's because it's different from the pizza you eat every week. It had a different crunchy and flaky texture which makes it more fun to eat.
But the infatuation doesn't end when kids grow up. When I was in high school, I remember we had to run in the morning to the school cafè to grab at least 1 of the 2 best things they were selling and which were sold-out almost immediately: the tuna salad Focaccia and the puff pastry mini Pizza.
How to make homemade Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce is perhaps the most important element in a pizza because it's what gives it flavor. The crust gives it texture and the mozzarella gives it cheesy goodness.
After various tentatives, I stopped using canned tomato sauce because I always find it too acidic, even when I add sugar in it. This is because most canned tomato sauces have citric acid in it to act as a natural conservative. The first time I tried to use homemade tomato sauce on pizza, we immediately loved it. It has a different flavor than standard tomato sauce and it makes the pizza even yummier.
It's really easy to make and doesn't require that much time. The important thing is the choice of tomatoes, they need to be plump and not too watery. The best variety for tomato sauce is the Roma tomato (commonly known as plum tomatoes), or better the famous Italian variety of San Marzano tomatoes.
- With a sharp knife, score a large X on the bottom of the tomatoes.
- Toss the tomatoes in boiling water for a couple of minutes, until the peel starts to come off.
- Move the tomatoes to ice-cold water.
- Now you can easily peel them with your hands, by pulling the corners or the scored peel.
- Once the tomatoes are peeled, you can blend them into a sauce.
If you want a less liquid sauce, remove the seeds and inside of the tomatoes, leaving only the firm shells. This way you'll get less sauce, but denser (although this step is totally optional).
Can I use canned tomato sauce?
Of course, if you don't have time to make homemade sauce or if tomatoes are not in season, you can obviously use canned tomato sauce, or blend canned San Marzano tomatoes.
As mentioned above, the flavor might be a little bit more acidic than fresh sauce but still good. You can season the canned sauce just the same as the fresh one, with olive oil, salt, and oregano. It won't need anything else!
The Recipe
If you like this recipe, check out also these other party snack recipes:
Puff Pastry mini Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 roll Puff Pastry
- 3 Roma tomatoes
- 1 Mozzarella
- Salt
- Oregano, dried
- Basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
- Peel and blend the tomatoes into a sauce, as described in the post above. Season with good quality EV olive oil and salt to taste.
- Drain the mozzarella and shred it with your hands, squeezing out as much water as possible. Set aside in a bowl.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet and using a cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Transfer them to a sheet pan covered with parchment paper.
- With a fork, punch a few holes in the center of each circle.
- With a spoon, spread the tomato sauce on the puff pastry circles, then sprinkle the mozzarella on top. Sprinkle some dried oregano on top, to taste.
- Add a couple of basil leaves on top, then bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
- They can be served either warm or room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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