Pizza

I was surfing the web, when I came upon a site which claimed a Pizza in 35 minutes. Come on! I know that the dough must be knead, rested, re-kneaded, blind baked... Surely a 3 hour + process.. And why bake pizza when you can buy one?

Then I read an article about store-bought pizza containing MSG - an addictive additive and that many ingredients are not being listed. That got me thinking again of baking a pizza at home.

This pizza recipe surprised me!!

It was a great success. Easy to make. Not at all time consuming and tasted exceptional!!

Recipe courtesy: 

www. centrecutcook.com

Yield : 2 pizzas of 12 inch diameter

Ingredients:

Pizza base / dough:

2 tsp instant yeast

1 cup warm water 

2 1/2 cups maida

2 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Pizza sauce:

Tomato - 8 medium

Garlic - 4 cloves

Onion - 1 medium

Celery - 1 stalk

Salt

Sugar - 1 tsp

Spices (pepper, rosemary, oregano, chilli flakes) - 1 tbsp

Tomato sauce - 1 tbsp

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Flavored oil:

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/8 tsp

Salt - 1/8 tsp

Garlic - 2 cloves , crushed

Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp

Topping of your choice

Cheese - as required

Baking sheet / aluminium foil
Pizza pan or thaali

Method:

Making the dough:

Take a bowl and mix together the warm water and yeast and stir well.

Transfer this into a large vessel and tip in the rest of the dough ingredients.

Form a ball and let rest covered for 10 minutes.

Pizza Sauce:

Heat the olive oil and sauté the onion, garlic and celery on a low flame till onion becomes transparent.Then add the tomato, salt , spices, sugar and ketchup. Mix well and cook covered till the skin of the tomato starts peeling. Purée this sauce.

Flavoured oil:
Mix the olive oil with the crushed garlic, salt and spices.

Baking the pizza:
Preheat oven to 200C.
Prepare a baking tray with a greased baking sheet  / aluminium foil on top.(My tray is 12 inches in diameter.)
Divide the expanded dough into 2 parts and keep one part covered inside the fridge. 
Roll one portion to fit the prepared tray. 
I found it easier to use oiled hand to push out the dough into shape over the oiled sheet /foil.
Lay this over the tray carefully and spread the flavored oil over it.
Bake for 8 minutes.

Spread the pizza sauce on top.

Arrange your topping over the sauce.
Top with grated cheese.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until crust is brown and cheese is melted.
Cut into slices and enjoy hot!!