Mini Flatbread Pizzas

Who doesn’t love homemade pizza?  Everyone gets to put exactly what they want on their pizza, it’s cheap to make, and it’s so much more flavorful than delivery.

The only problem was the dough.  Either you had to buy it already made, or you had to spend a couple of hours making it, letting is rise, rolling it out, letting it rise again.  By the time the pizza was ready, my friends would have already resorted to cannibalism.

That’s why I’m so madly in love with flatbread pizza.  The dough is crazy quick and easy to make, tastes amazing, and holds even hearty toppings with ease.  The only downside is that it’s not as filling as bready pizza, but that just means more room for dessert!

Mini Flatbread Pizzas

For the sauce

• one 14 oz can tomato sauce
• two cloves garlic, finely chopped
• one TB olive oil
• one tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

for the dough

from Gourmet magazine, with slight changes for use as pizza dough

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil

for the toppings

• whatever you want

Start with the sauce.  Using a medium saucepan on medium heat, saute the garlic in olive oil until soft but not browned.  Add other ingredients.  When sauce begins to simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until sauce thickens and flavor concentrates.

While sauce is simmering gently in the background, make the flatbread.

Preheat oven to 450°F with a heavy baking sheet on rack in middle.

Stir together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in center, then add water and oil and gradually stir into flour with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Knead dough gently on a work surface 4 or 5 times.

Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll out 1 piece on a floured work surface.  Roll dough as thin as you can get it.  Cut into sturdy shapes (no reindeer or bunnies or anything with protruding limbs) or into 4″ squares or roll into 4″ circles.

Slide shapes onto preheated baking sheet and bake until pale golden but not browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer flatbread to a rack to cool, then repeat the process, using up the rest of the dough.

Take the sauce off the heat.  Lay the flatbread shaped upside down (so the least cooked side is facing down), spread a little sauce on the flatbread with the back of a spoon, add your toppings, and place back into the oven until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Enjoy with friends and family, or eat them all yourself.