Bua's Mini Pizzas

I became a superhero for my darling nieces with these personal size mini pizzas. The fun backstory goes like this --- Mannee, the 5 year old Fancy Nancy, and Chunky, the 2 year old Jojo were with me for 2 days of stay while their parents were having their 3rd chipmunk at the hospital! So I asked Mannee what she wanted for lunch and she asks: 

"Bua can you make pizza?" 

Bua does not say no! Bua tries and tries and makes it happen. So I said, "I can try, Mannee! I'll make it happen, InshaAllah." So I Googled and a recipe shot up from Ruby Ka Kitchen on YouTube. The lady made personal size mini pizzas for her granddaughter! Alright! Here we go! The recipe's the same as the lady but I faced some changes along the way suited to my needs. With time, I'd add topping ideas and more photos of new pizzas I create! Here we go!  

INGREDIENTS

All purpose flour (I used bleached, pre-sifted), 4 cups
Instant dry yeast, 2 teaspoons (I used Fleischmann's RapidRise)
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Sugar, 1 tablespoon
Oil, 2 tablespoon
Luke warm water, 1 1/2 cup

For Toppings:
Pizza sauce of choice
Veggies of choice: bell peppers, diced onions, mushrooms, olives, 
Meats of choice: sausage pepperoni slices, shredded chicken, beef, or other meats
Use leftovers, create your own toppings, get creative.
Cheeses of choice: shredded mozzarella and cheddar 

EQUIPMENT

Mixer with dough hook (kneading by hand will take longer)
Baking pans, 2 (rectangle preferred)
Silicone spatula (optional, for scraping dough in mixer bowl)
Cling wrap
Sifter (optional)
Glass measuring cup (helps pouring)

PIZZA TIME!

1. Sift together directly in the mixer's mixing bowl: 4 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Sifting removes clumps. It is optional if you do not wish to be particular. You may add directly to mixing bowl.

2. Add 2 teaspoon instant dry yeast and 2 tablespoons of oil to the flour mixture.

3. In a microwave, heat 1 1/2 cups of water in a  glass measuring cup. Water should be lukewarm so it takes about 20-30 seconds depending on how powerful your microwave is. Lukewarm means warm enough not to burn your hands. If you overheat, yeast will die. If you underheat yeast will not activate properly. 

4. Set up the mixer with a dough hook attachment and start mixing on lowest speed while adding small amounts of lukewarm water. The entire water volume may or may not get used. Keep mixing, scraping flour off the sides of the mixing bowl with a silicone spatula, and adding tiny volumes of water until the dough comes together. 

Ideally, you should knead for about 5 minutes until a good consistency is achieved. Dough should be super soft and smooth. Sprinkle some flour if it is too sticky or wet and is sticking to the walls of the mixing bowl. 

5. Coat the dough ball with oil and make the mixing bowl air tight with cling wrap. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour. It will double in size. After rising, the dough can be refrigerated for use the next day. I have tried this, and results were perfect.

6. Sprinkle the work surface with flour and bring out the dough.

7. Cut the dough (using scissors for ease) into 10-12 pieces and roll into smooth balls. I made smaller sizes, you may vary. These dough balls can be refrigerated and used within 2 days.

8. Grease the baking pans with oil. 

9. Roll out each dough ball with a rolling pin into a flat round. It should not be too thick or too thin. The diameters of my mini pizzas was about 4 inches. 

10. Transfer the flat rounds to the greased baking pans and poke holes on the surface with a fork all over. 

11. Spread pizza sauce in a thick layer, add choice of toppings, top off with cheeses. 

12. Bake at 400 F for 10 to 12 minutes. My oven is pretty powerful so it did the job in 10 minutes. You may taste test a pizza at 10 minutes to see if it is fully done so you know. 

13. Serve hot, store in fridge for later, enjoy being the kids superhero!