Sweet Carnival Mini Pizzas are soft, deep-fried sweet treats made from leftover pizza dough. They are simple yet incredibly delicious. At my house, they were made alongside other traditional Carnival sweets like chiacchiere and sanguinaccio, but also on special occasions like birthdays and name days. I often prepare them especially for Saturday evening or after Sunday lunch.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 15/18
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp fresh yeast
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 packet vanillin
- as needed vegetable oil for frying
- as needed granulated sugar for dusting
Tools
- 2 Bowls
Preparation
Pour half of the room temperature water into a large bowl and dissolve the yeast.
Add the sifted flour and give it a quick stir. Then gradually add the rest of the water (as not all flours absorb liquids the same way), the fine salt, a generous teaspoon of granulated sugar, and the vanillin (both optional and added only if making this dough specifically sweet for the mini pizzas) and knead well until you get a smooth, soft dough.
Shape it into a ball, cover it well, and let it rise until doubled in size (the time depends greatly on the room temperature, in my case it took about 4 and a half hours).
When the dough has risen, gently turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape it into a rope from which you will detach pieces weighing about 1 oz each (they will double in size when fried). Round them with your hands to form small spheres and let them rise for another hour, well covered and spaced apart.
After an hour, heat vegetable oil in a non-stick pan with high sides.
Put the sugar in a small bowl.
When the oil is hot, take a ball and flatten it with your fingers as if to shape it into a miniature pizza and drop it into the hot oil. Turn it over multiple times until it is puffed up and golden (a couple of minutes), without letting it darken too much, as they would become hard on the outside. Continue until you have finished the dough balls.
When each mini pizza is ready, drain it from the oil, roll it in the granulated sugar, and then place it on a serving plate.
Tip: Since granulated sugar absorbs moisture, after the third or fourth mini pizza it will become oily and will not stick to the surface of the treat anymore. It is better to roll each mini pizza in a teaspoon of sugar added at the moment.
