Mini Pizzas on Puff Pastry

Topping

1. Choose the ingredients: mini pizzas cook quickly, and all the preparation is this. You definitely need cheese, preferably not the hardest kind. Emmental, Swiss or Radamer is perfect. You will need fresh button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and olives, preferably the dark, spotted black ones.

   Take the frozen dough out of the freezer in advance, 2 hours before you start cooking.

   

2. Fry the mushrooms until golden. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and pat them dry with a napkin. Cut large ones into large slices and simply halve small ones. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms for 3-4 mins over high heat. They should brown slightly.

   

3. Make the cheese mixture. Grate the Emmental (or a similar cheese) and transfer it to a blender. Add 1-2 peeled garlic cloves, a pinch of salt and the basil leaves chopped with a knife, half of what you have prepared. Blend the cheese, herbs and garlic. You get an almost dry mass of a pleasant emerald shade with a pleasant smell. It is a much simplified analog of pesto, the best sauce of Genoa. You can also use ready-made pesto, which is sold in small jars.

   

Dough

4. Thaw the dough. Take the package of unleavened puff pastry out of the freezer in advance. Thawing usually takes about 2 hours. Unfold the dough and let it thaw completely.

   

5. Prepare the pizza bases. Grease a rectangular baking sheet that fits the sheet of puff pastry with the remaining olive oil, so the dough does not stick to it while baking. Lay the dough on the baking sheet and smooth it out. Carefully cut the dough into 6 rectangles with a knife or a pizza roller cutter, without moving the pieces.

   

   With your fingers and the flat bottom of a glass, press down the center of each piece slightly, making a small hollow for the topping. Prick the dough all over with a fork or the tip of a knife.

Assembling and baking

6. Arrange the topping. Spread the fried mushrooms and 2 olives evenly over each piece of dough. Leave a fairly wide border around the edge of each pizza and keep the topping in the center.

   

   With a small spoon, spread the cheese, basil and garlic mixture over each pizza, sprinkling it on the mushrooms and olives, as for mushroom pizza. Sprinkle the rim left around the topping with finely grated Parmesan.

   

7. Bake the mini pizzas at the temperature and for the time given on the dough package, which is the best guide. For example, bake for 30-35 mins at 220-230°C. Following this tip, heat the oven to the right temperature and put in the baking sheet with the mini pizzas.

   

   About 5-7 mins before the end of baking, take the baking sheet out of the oven and lay halved cherry tomatoes on top of the topping. Put the baking sheet back in the oven to finish baking until the edges of the dough turn golden.

   

Serving

8. Cut the finished pizzas apart with a knife so they are easy to lift from the baking sheet. Lay the remaining green basil leaves, and arugula if you like, on top of each mini pizza.

   

9. Serve right away. Mini pizzas with mushrooms, herbs and tomatoes are great as a light snack or instead of bread with mushroom soup. Fresh mini pizzas are incredibly tasty while hot. Unfortunately, reheating them is not an option, so eat them right away.

   

   And one more thing: the topping I gave is not an instruction. Use your imagination. Mini pizzas or big pizzas are more a fantasy baked on dough than a dogma.