Soft red mini pizzas without yeast, just like the ones at the bar but easier! Who doesn’t recall the mini pizzas found at the savory counter in bars or bakeries, soft, fragrant, and full of tomato? These soft red mini pizzas without yeast I’m presenting today are an easy and quick version, perfect for those who don’t like or can’t use yeast.
They can be prepared in a few minutes and allow for a thousand variations: you can add your favorite toppings, leave them simple like at the bar, or enrich them for an aperitif, a snack, or an impromptu buffet. And the small secret for those who also love crunchiness? It’s all in the flour mix and the cooking method: this way, each mini pizza can be soft inside and slightly crunchy outside, just the way you like it.
For more yeast-free recipes, take a look here
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Affordable
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 10 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
The ingredients for these soft red mini pizzas without yeast are really few: flour, water, and oil. The real difference, however, is in the type of flour. I used the light focaccia mix by Molino Colombo, specifically designed to give softness to the doughs along with their type 1 flour.
If you want to make it yourself, you can use a mix of Manitoba flour and type 1 flour, perfect for making a soft and easy-to-stretch dough. And if you also love crunchiness, there’s a little trick: replace 150 g of the total 500 g of flour with re-milled semolina, and you’ll see that the base becomes slightly crunchy without losing its internal softness.
- 1 3/4 cups Manitoba flour
- 1 3/4 cups type 1 flour
- 1 3/8 cups water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups tomato purée
- 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- to taste dried oregano
- to taste salt
Tools to Make the Soft Red Mini Pizzas Without Yeast
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Dough Scraper
- 1 Pastry Board
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Baking Pan
- 1 Parchment Paper
- 1 Brush
Steps
Making these soft red mini pizzas without yeast is really easy and quick. I chose to use the Bimby for convenience, so I can knead everything in a few minutes, but don’t worry if you don’t have it: just a bowl, a bit of elbow grease, and you’re done. The dough remains soft and easy to work with, ready to be rolled out and topped as you like best, without rising times and without complications.
Sift the weighed flours and mix them well in a bowl, so the mix will be uniform and ready for kneading.
Add the salt to the water meant for the dough and emulsify well, so the dough will be salted just right.
Transfer the flour into the food processor (I used the Bimby) or into a large bowl. Add almost all of the water and let the dough absorb it (in the Bimby, use the knead setting for a couple of minutes). When the water is well absorbed, add the remaining water and knead again until you obtain a soft and homogeneous dough.
When the dough has formed, add the oil and salt mix gradually, always with the processor running (knead mode). Incorporate in a couple of times, so the oil is well distributed without weighing down the dough.
Continue to knead until you see the bowl’s walls clean and the dough well attached to the kneading hook. Transfer it onto a pastry board, give it a couple of slap and fold turns, form a ball, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, let’s take care of the topping. To make everything easy and quick, let’s use this “downtime” to prepare it. Pour the tomato purée into a bowl and prepare the ingredients you’ll use to flavor it and customize it to your taste.
Add the extra virgin olive oil, the salt, and the oregano to the tomato purée and mix well, so the topping is ready to be spread on the soft red mini pizzas without yeast.
Continue to mix until you get a tasty and well-seasoned sauce. Of course, it’s completely customizable: you can add more or less oregano, adjust the salt, or try other flavors to your taste. In short, leave room for creativity and your favorite flavors!
On the slightly dusted pastry board with semolina or rice flour, portion the dough with a dough scraper into pieces about 70–80 g each, ready to be turned into balls.
Take each portion of dough and fold it onto itself to form balls, then roll them gently. I recommend preparing them all first and then rolling them again, starting with the first one made: this helps to give more tension and cohesion to the balls, making them easier to roll out and more compact during cooking.
The balls should be like this: elastic, firm, and non-sticky.
It’s time to roll out the balls. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 464°F and let it warm up. Prepare a baking pan covered with parchment paper and spread plenty of oil on it, so the mini pizzas won’t stick and will have a tastier base. Start shaping the balls with your fingers, gently stretching the dough, and then complete the rolling with the rolling pin to achieve the desired thickness.
As you roll out the balls, transfer them onto the prepared baking pan and place them carefully, leaving, if you can (I couldn’t!), a small space between each one. This will allow for even cooking and a regular shape.
One of the reasons these soft red mini pizzas without yeast are so delicious is the double cooking. To begin, spread half of the prepared sauce on the bases, distributing it evenly without overdoing it.
Bake the mini pizzas like this, with nothing else, for about 10 minutes at 464°F on the lower part of the oven. This first cooking serves to slightly set the base and prepare it for the final topping, keeping the inside soft.
Remove the soft red mini pizzas without yeast from the oven and add the remaining tomato sauce. If you want to achieve the classic bar mini pizzas, just do a drizzle of oil and bake for another 10 minutes at 428°F on the upper part of the oven.
Instead, I preferred to season them as I like with my favorite ingredients, making them even tastier and personalized.
I decided to leave some mini pizzas plain, others topped with a simple basil leaf, others with an anchovy fillet, and finally some with a sprinkle of parmesan, reminiscent of the classic Neapolitan montanarina.
This way, everyone can choose their favorite taste, and the soft red mini pizzas without yeast become a little journey through classic flavors and personal variations, perfect for aperitifs, snacks, or impromptu buffets.
Storage and Tips
The soft red mini pizzas without yeast keep well at room temperature for 1–2 days in an airtight container. To keep them longer, you can also freeze them already cooked, separated by parchment paper, and then reheat them in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving: they will remain soft inside and slightly crunchy outside. A little trick to enjoy them at their best: warm them for a few minutes in the oven before serving, especially if you prepared them in advance. For the topping, remember that these mini pizzas are very versatile: you can vary the toppings and flavors as you like, leaving them plain, adding basil, anchovies, cheese, or any ingredient that inspires you.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I use another flour to make the red mini pizzas without yeast?
Yes! You can replace the suggested mix of Manitoba flour and type 1 flour with any other flour blend, provided that at least half is strong flour. Each mix will yield different but always tasty results! The mix I used helps to achieve greater softness. For more crunchiness, replace 150 g of the total flour with re-milled semolina.
Can I make the soft red mini pizzas without yeast by hand?
Absolutely! Just a large bowl and a bit of elbow grease: the dough is really easy to work with by hand.
How can I make the mini pizzas crunchier?
The trick is in the flour mix and the cooking: using part of re-milled semolina and cooking them well on the upper part of the oven helps achieve a slightly crunchy base without losing internal softness.
How long do the soft red mini pizzas without yeast last?
They last 1–2 days at room temperature in an airtight container. They can also be frozen already cooked, separated by parchment paper, and reheated in the oven before serving.
Can I make pizza strips?
Yes! By rolling the dough very thin and slightly increasing the cooking time, these mini pizzas can become thin and crispy pizza strips, perfect as a snack or to serve with various sauces and toppings. If you like pizza strips THIS is my recipe with mother yeast excess!
