Soft Red Mini Pizzas Without Yeast, just like those from the café but easier! Who doesn’t remember the mini pizzas found in the savory counter at bars or bakeries, soft, fragrant, and loaded with tomato? These soft red mini pizzas without yeast I present today are an easy and quick version, perfect for those who don’t like or can’t use yeast.
They are prepared in just a few minutes and lend themselves to a thousand variations: you can add your favorite toppings, leave them plain like at the café, or enrich them for an appetizer, a snack, or an impromptu buffet. And the little secret for those who also love crunchiness? It’s all in the flour mix and the cooking: so each mini pizza can be soft inside and slightly crunchy outside, exactly as you like it.
For more yeast-free recipes, take a look here
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- 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 very few: flour, water, and oil. The real difference, however, is in the type of flour. I used the mix for light focaccias by Molino Colombo, specifically designed to give softness to 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 achieving a soft and easy-to-roll 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 softness inside.
- 2 cups g Manitoba flour
- 2 cups g type 1 flour
- 1⅓ cups g water
- 2 tbsps g extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp g salt
- 2½ cups g tomato puree
- 1½ tbsps g extra virgin olive oil
- as needed dried oregano
- as needed salt
Tools to Make Soft Red Mini Pizzas Without Yeast
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Dough Scraper
- 1 Work Surface
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Baking Tray
- 1 Parchment Paper
- 1 Brush
Steps
Making these soft red mini pizzas without yeast is really easy and quick. I chose to use the Thermomix for convenience, to 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, with no rising times and no hassle.
Sift the pre-weighed flours and mix them well in a bowl, so the mix is uniform and ready for the dough.
Add the salt to the oil provided for the dough and emulsify well, so the seasoning distributes evenly and helps to make the dough softer and more flavorful.
Transfer the flour into the food processor (I used the Thermomix) or a large bowl. Add almost all the water and let the dough absorb (in the Thermomix kneading mode for a couple of minutes). When the water is well absorbed, add the remaining and work again until you get a soft and homogeneous dough.
When the dough has formed, add the oil and salt mix gradually, always with the processor running (kneading mode). Incorporate in a couple of times, so the oil distributes well without weighing down the dough.
Continue to knead until you see the bowl’s sides clean and the dough well attached to the dough hook. Transfer it onto a work surface, give a couple of “slap and fold” folds, 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 “dead time” to prepare it. Pour the tomato puree into a bowl and prepare the ingredients you’ll use to season it and customize it to your taste.
Add to the tomato puree the oil, salt, and oregano and mix well, so the topping is ready to spread on the soft red mini pizzas without yeast.
Continue to mix until you get a flavorful and well-seasoned sauce. Of course, it is completely customizable: you can add more or less oregano, adjust the salt, or try other seasonings to your taste. In short, leave room for creativity and your favorite flavors!
On the work surface lightly dusted 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 over itself to form balls, then gently round them up. I recommend preparing them all first and then rounding them again, starting from the first one made: this helps to give more tension and cohesion to the balls, making them easier to roll out and more compact when baked.
The balls should look like this: elastic, firm, and not sticky.
It’s time to roll out the balls. In the meantime, turn on the oven to 464°F and let it heat up. Prepare a baking tray covered with parchment paper and spread plenty of oil on top, so the mini pizzas won’t stick and will have a more flavorful base. Start shaping the balls with your fingers, gently spreading the dough, and then complete the rolling with the rolling pin until you achieve the desired thickness.
As you roll out the balls, transfer them to the prepared baking tray and carefully place them, leaving, if you can (I didn’t!), a small space between each one. This will allow for even baking and a regular shape.
One of the reasons these soft red mini pizzas without yeast are so delightful is the double baking. To start, sprinkle the bases with half of the sauce prepared earlier, distributing it evenly without overdoing it.
Bake the mini pizzas like this, without anything else, for about 10 minutes at 464°F on the lower part of the oven. This first baking 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 café 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 top them as I like with my favorite ingredients, making them even more tasty 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 flavor, and the soft red mini pizzas without yeast become a small journey between classic flavors and personal variations, perfect for appetizers, 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. If you want to keep them longer, you can also freeze them already baked, separated by parchment paper, and then reheat them in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving them: they will remain soft inside and slightly crunchy outside. A little trick to enjoy them at their best: heat them in the oven for a few minutes before serving, especially if you prepared them in advance. For the topping, remember that these mini pizzas are very versatile: you can vary seasonings and flavors as you like, leaving them plain, adding basil, anchovies, cheeses, or any ingredient that inspires you.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I use another flour to make soft red mini pizzas without yeast?
Yes! You can replace the suggested mix with Manitoba flour and type 1 flour with any other flour blend, provided that at least half is strong flour. Each mix will give different but always delicious results! The blend I used helps 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 more crunchy?
The trick is in the flour mix and the baking: using part re-milled semolina and baking well in the upper part of the oven helps achieve a slightly crunchy base without losing the internal softness.
How long do soft red mini pizzas without yeast keep?
They keep 1–2 days at room temperature in an airtight container. They can also be frozen already baked, separated by parchment paper, and reheated in the oven before serving.
Can I make pizza tongues?
Yes! By rolling the dough very thin and slightly increasing the baking time, these mini pizzas can become thin and crunchy pizza tongues, perfect as a snack or served with various dips and toppings. If you like pizza tongues, HERE is my recipe with sourdough discard!
