Who doesn’t love pizza? This comfort food has lots of flavored toppings and dripping with cheese. This is of course on top list. Getting it is also quite easy. You just need to dial the pizza delivery number. But did you try making it at home before? What if you can it at home and that too healthier version of it? The deep dish or thin crust pizza with the toppings can be made in just 20 minutes. Isn’t it great? So, let’s check the recipe for a medium sized pizza.
Ingredients:
1. Dough:
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Basil leaves – 6 to 7
Olive oil - 100gm
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Yeast powder - ½ tbps
Water (warm) - 1 cup
Fine flour (maida) - 10gm
Parchment paper - 1
2. Sauce:
Pureed Tomatoes - 1 cup
Onion - 1 cup
Chicken/vegetable stock (optional) - 1 cube
Dried oregano - 2 tsp
Red chillies (optional) - 1 tsp
Garlic - 5 cloves
3. Toppings:
You can use cold cuts, pre-cooked and processed meats.
Vegetables like olives, eggplant, mushrooms, bell-peppers, cottage cheese, and sundried tomatoes.
Grapes, tomatoes for some sweet flavor.
4. Cheese:
For a pizza, the more the cheese the better it tastes. Try using different combinations of cheese.
Few classic pizza cheeses are mozzarella, cheddar, and gouda. 100g of it is required.
Method:
Crust:
1. Make the pizza dough, for the crust, a couple of hours before your meal-time.
2. In a bowl, mix water, yeast, and sugar together and keep it aside to sit for 10 minutes.
3. When the mixture foams up, add whole wheat flour, salt, finely chopped basil leaves, and olive oil. Knead with your hands and bring it all together to make soft dough. You should be able to pinch it without the dough sticking to your fingers.
4. Wrap the bowl with cling film and keep it aside for at least two hours for the dough to rise.
Sauce:
1. Take a pre-heated pan and add 2tbp of olive oil. Add coarsely chopped onions.
2. Fry till translucent and add the pureed tomatoes. Once the oil starts to appear on the side, add garlic, chillies, chicken/vegetable stock cube, salt, sugar, and oregano.
3. Mix them well for two more minutes.
4. Check for flavours and adjust accordingly.
5. Remove the pan from the fire, and keep it aside to cool down.
Pizza:
1. Start with the crust. Tear off a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle fine flour or maida over it. Take a chunk of the dough, make a medium-sized ball, and roll it out thin with a rolling pin (belan). Keep the thickness according to the crust you'd like. Roll the edges inwards so that the cheese and the sauce doesn't flow out while baking.
2. By now, you should pre-heat your oven at 250 degrees (together with the baking tray) for 15 minutes before your pizza goes in.
3. Add the sauce to the crust and spread it evenly and generously.
4. Add the thinly sliced meats and veggies to the crust.
5. Grate all the three kinds of cheese with equal measure on top of the meats and veggies.
6. Put the crust together with the parchment paper on the baking tray (watch out, it's hot!)
7. Bake the pizza till the crust firms up and the cheese turns golden.
8. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil before serving hot.