Pizzette di Sfoglia
(peet-TSET-teh dee SFOH-lyah)
Colazione e Merenda: The Sweet Start and the After-School Save
Walk into any pasticceria in Rome right after the school bell rings, and your eyes will dart past the elegant cream tarts straight to the tray of pizzette di sfoglia. Four-thirty on a Tuesday, backpacks hit the floor, supermarket puff pastry unrolls, a drinking glass stamps out circles, and store-bought proves it is the best tool for the job. The real trick is pure structural engineering: keep the dough ice cold, use a dense tomato paste so the bottom doesn't flood, and top with a single cube of mozzarella. Bake them hot until the baking sheet crackles, and grab yours.
Before you start
Thaw the pastry slowly.
Always thaw puff pastry in the refrigerator overnight rather than on the counter. The butter inside must remain perfectly cold and solid to create flaky layers in the oven.
Ingredients
- all-butter puff pastry1 lb
- strained tomatoes1/3 cup
- extra virgin olive oil1 tsp
- dried Mediterranean oregano1/2 tsp
- kosher salt1 pinch
- low-moisture whole milk mozzarella3 oz
Method
- 01
Preheat the oven and prepare the trays.
Crank your oven to 400°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- 02
Mix the thick tomato sauce.
In a small bowl, aggressively mix the strained tomatoes, olive oil, dried oregano, and salt. Mixing the oil in, rather than drizzling it on top, keeps the pastry from getting greasy. If your tomato sauce is watery, simmer it on the stove for five minutes until thick.
- 03
Punch out the pastry circles.
On a lightly floured surface, unroll the cold puff pastry and use a 2-inch round cutter or a small drinking glass to punch out circles. Gently press the scraps together, chill for ten minutes, and roll out once more to cut the rest.
- 04
Score the inner ring.
Place the dough rounds on your trays, leaving an inch between them. Take a 1.5-inch cutter or the rim of a shot glass and gently press it into the center of each circle—deep enough to leave an indentation, but do not cut all the way through. This docks the center to hold the sauce while the border rises into a flaky wall.
- 05
Top with absolute restraint.
Drop one scant teaspoon—no more—of the tomato mixture into the center indentation of each pizzetta. Add one or two tiny cubes of the low-moisture mozzarella.
- 06
Chill before baking.
Place the entire baking sheet into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Puff pastry needs the shock of cold butter hitting a hot oven to achieve its maximum rise.
- 07
Bake until dramatically puffed.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. You are looking for the exposed borders of the pastry to puff up into a deep, golden brown while the cheese melts and bubbles in the center.
- 08
Cool on a wire rack.
Transfer the pizzette to a wire rack immediately and leave them uncovered. Trapped steam will destroy the crispness you just built. Serve warm.
Notes
The Cagliaritana Variation.
Down in Sardinia, bakeries serve these sealed like little UFOs for breakfast alongside a cappuccino. Place a dot of sauce and a caper on one 2-inch disk, top it directly with a second disk, and press the edges firmly to seal. Lightly score a circle on top, brush with egg yolk, and bake.
Adult additions.
If you're baking for a grown-up palate, slip a rinsed caper, a tiny sliver of anchovy fillet, or a slice of black olive under the cheese before baking.
From Cook Italian in America.