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muffin tin full of pizza buns

Mini pizza buns

Mini pizza buns made in a muffin tin. Soft, fluffy dough, homemade tomato sauce and a bit of parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of herbs. SO GOOD!
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
1st and 2nd rise total 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Servings: 24 buns
Course: Appetizer, lunch, Side Dish, Snack, Treat
Calories: 67
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

The dough
  • 125 ml lukewarm (plant based) milk (of choice)(approx. ½ cup)
  • 30 ml lukewarm water (approx. 2 tbsp)
  • 4 gr active dry yeast (approx. ½ tbsp)
  • 40 gr unsalted (vegan) butter (approx. 3 tbsp)(melted but not too hot)(or sub olive oil)
  • 1 large egg
  • 10 gr coconut sugar (approx. 1 tbsp)
  • 195-225 gr white whole wheat flour (approx.2-2¼ cups)(or sub all purpose flour)
  • 90 gr whole wheat bread flour (approx. ¾ cup)(or sub regular bread flour)
  • 1 tsp fine grain sea salt
The filling
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil or melted (vegan) butter
  • 6-8 tbsp tomato or pizza sauce (I used homemade oven roasted tomato sauce*)
  • 6-8 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (or other type of (vegan) cheese of choice)
  • 4-6 tbsp optional extra adding ins (such as caramelized red onion, minced garlic, chopped sun-dried tomatoes)

Equipment

  • mini muffin tin

Method
 

The dough
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl combine the milk plus the water and sprinkle the yeast over top of it to allow it to dissolve, about 5 minutes. Then stir in the butter, egg and sugar until smooth. 
  2. In another bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, bread flour, salt and dried herbs.
  3. Add about half of the dry ingredients into the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Then pour in the remaining dry ingredients and knead by hand or use a stand mixer or food processor with the dough hook attachment.
    Knead until smooth and slightly tacky, about 7 minutes. When you notice the dough isn’t pulling away from the sides of the bowl or it’s too wet, add flour (1 tablespoon at a time) until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 
Resting the dough/ first rise
  1. Once done kneading, place the dough into a large lightly greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap to double in size, about 1-1½ hours.
Roll out the dough
  1. Once the dough has risen, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and cut it in half. Use a rolling pin to roll one half into a large rectangle about 6x22 inch/15x55cm in size. 
  2. First brush a bit of olive oil (or melted (vegan) butter) out over top with a brush, followed by a layer of homemade tomato sauce, which is best applied with the rounded side of a spoon. 
  3. Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese on top and optionally some caramelized red onion, minced garlic and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
  4. Grease a mini muffin tin with a bit of olive oil and set it aside until the mini pizza buns are ready to be put in.
Roll up the dough
  1. Starting with one of the long ends, tightly roll the dough from end to end. Cut the dough into 12 one-inch/2.5cm sections.
    Flip them over one by one and place them spiral-side up in the greased muffin tin. Repeat this process with the remaining half of the dough. 
Second rise
  1. I cover the filled muffin tin with plastic wrap and allow it to rise again, about 30-40 minutes.
Bake the buns
  1. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Once the buns have risen again and the oven is preheated, I bake the mini pizza buns in the oven for about 15-17 minutes or until the edges are barely golden. 

Notes

*homemade oven roasted tomato sauce
 
Nutritional information:
the information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.