Mini Pepperami Pizza

Mini Pepperami Pizza are perfect finger food for a festive soiree, or in this case, an office fuddle.

To save time, you can make the dough the night before and let it prove overnight in the fridge. The cool of the fridge will retard the dough, and it will prove slowly. This is a good thing, as it is a known fact that the slower prove you give your bread mixtures, the better the flavour.

Next day, divide your dough, press out your mini pizzas and then top with tomato sauce, cheese and any other desired topping. I wanted to create mini pizzas that looked like my favourite pepperoni, but I obviously couldn't use the full size slices of pepperoni which are almost as big as the pizzas, so instead, I used little slices of Pepperami. You can obviously leave this off for a vegetarian version.

Ingredients (dough):

• 350g strong white flour (bread flour)
• 7g instant or fast action yeast
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (extra virgin if you have it)
• 225ml of water (or you can use milk for a softer base)
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Warm your milk/water in a until it is just warm, but not hot as this will help wake up the yeast. 
2. Pour this into your mixing bowl and add in the yeast, and the sugar if you are using it. This will feed the yeast and help it get a good rise, but it isn't essential. 
3. If you want, you can leave the mixture for a few minutes to give the yeast time to wake but again, it isn't essential, but your yeast will love you for it.
4. Next add in the olive oil, and after a quick stir, add the flour. 
5. The mixture should form together into a nice ball of dough.
6. Place the ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for about 8 minutes
7. By now, it should be nice and smooth and stretchy.
8. Place it back in the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove and double in size. You can do this at room temperature, in which case it should only take an hour or so. Alternatively, you can do the mixing in advance, and leave it in the bowl covered in clingfilm in the fridge for about 12 hours, even 24 if necessary, but not much longer. 
9. Once the proving is over, divide the dough into 16 small balls.
10. Dust a couple of baking tray with some cornmeal (if you have it - if not use flour)
11. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 6 / 200°C / 400°F
12. Using the pads of your thumbs, press each dough ball out into your fingers to form a rough circle. You don't need to be too fussy about the shape. After all, it is about the flavour as much as about appearance. 
13. Spread a teaspoon of tomato puree onto each pizza, then cover with cheese (a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella is great for pizzas).
14. Sprinkle with a little mixed herbs if you feel that way inclined. 
15. Now you can top with your slices of pepperami.
16. Bake for 10-12 minutes before transferring straight to your plate. If serving later, place on a cooling rack and place in an airtight container only after they are fully cooled or you will have soggy base. They will keep in the fridge for no more than two days. After that, the dough may start to go soggy