I have always been on team Pizza, well who isn't? except for maybe Mr R. Pizzas always had my admiration, and vote to make it a staple at my house and I will have pizza over biryani any day! Sorry Biriyani lovers!
Making pizza right from the scratch i.e, making your own pizza base is really easy and it takes less time than preparing a traditional Tamil meal.
3 Steps for making Awesome Pizza at Home
1) Make your own Pizza Dough.
Yes, buying a pizza base from your nearest bakery might be tempting. But trust me making it at home isn't that hard. All you need is time for letting the dough rise. You can prep ahead of your mealtime. I'll run you through the ingredients.
Ingredients for Pizza Base
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Active Dry Yeast - 1 tsp
White Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Garlic Powder - 1/4 tsp
Oregano / Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
Warm water - 1 cup
Oil - few drops
Method
* Pour warm water in a mixing bowl add sugar and yeast. Mix it well and let it bloom for 10 mins in room temperature.
* To the mixing bowl, add flour, garlic powder, salt, oregano, oil and mix thoroughly.
* If sticky add little flour and stir into an elastic ball.
* Drizzle another large clean bowl with oil and brush the sides of the bowl.
* Lightly dust your hands with flour and form pizza dough into a round ball and transfer to oil brushed bowl.
* Allow it to rise for 45mins to 1 hr or until doubled in size.
* Knead briefly until smooth after raise.
* Transfer dough to pizza pan and either pinch the edges or fold them over to form a crust.
* Drizzle oil over top and brush the entire pizza including the crust.
* Slide parchment paper between pizza base and pan.
* Use a fork to poke holes all over the centre of pizza to keep from bubbling up.
* Preheat oven to 200 C for 15 minutes and blind bake the base in the lower rack.
* Remove from oven when half baked say around 8-9 mins.
2) Home-made sauce.
Make the red sauce the easy way of no-cook sauce. But we like the taste of the cooked sauce. You can substitute with pesto too.
Ingredients
Tomatoes - 2 (riped)
Garlic pods - 6-7
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Italian seasonings - 3/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp crushed
Olive Oil/ Coconut oil
Organic sugar - 1/2 tsp
Tomato paste - 1 tbsp - Optional
Method
* Blend everything above together except oil.
* Heat a pan on medium flame and add oil.
* Once oil is hot pour over the sauce and cook until it is reduced.
Pizza Toppings
There are no rules about the kinds of toppings you put on your pizza. Always choose the ones that you love. When I order pizza I always omit olives and I pick em' up and toss em' out. So when I bake pizza at home, I ensure to add the toppings loved by my family. Toppings would cook right on top of the pizza but if it isn't something you like to eat raw like mushrooms, cook ahead of time. If you are adding fresh greens like spinach or basil always sprinkle them over pizza right when it comes out of the oven. The residual heat from pizza will wilt the greens just slightly and bring out the flavour.
Ingredients
Mozzarella Cheese - 150 g
Cheddar Cheese - 100 g
Mixed Veggies like onions, capsicums - Sliced or cubed
Method
* Cut veggies into thin strips and saute with oil. (optional, the sauteing part)
* Shred the cheeses
Assembling
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