My First Homemade Pizza

Making pizza at home is a fun process. Though a little lengthy than what we are used to (order it online ;) ) its totally worth it. All the extra cheese, extra toppings and sauce are free of cost. !!! :)

Well I referred the VahReVah chefs recipe for the pizza base. This one is enough and works out well.

Pizzas made in pizza shops are prepared in very high heat and using pizza stone. Well we can heat up the home oven to its max but 350 - 400 worked for me. And that said you can always buy pizza stone if you are going to prepare it frequently. Otherwise a round large round baking sheet is good. 

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

For Pizza base:

All Purpose Flour - 7 Cup
Active Yeast - 7 gms (Small packet, you can get this in any retail grocery store)
Salt as per taste
Water - 250 ml
Olive oil - 5 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

For Tomato Sauce:

Tomato - 3 Cups, Puree
Onion - 1/2 Cup, Very finely Chopped
Tomato Ketchup - 1/2 Cup
Garlic - 2 Cloves, Minced
Red Chili powder or chili flakes - per taste
Oregano Italian Spice - per taste
Dry Italian Parsley - per taste
Salt - per taste
2 tbsp Oil

For Toppings:

I am strictly vegetarian and hence I have not listed any non-vegetarian toppings which are limitless.

Capsicum slits
Onion Slits
Sliced Tomatoes
Oregano
Parsley
Mozzarella Cheese - Grated
Salt as per taste
(can add other toppings like canned jalapeno and olives)

Method:

For Pizza Dough :

1. Take warm water. Sprinkle in yeast, sugar,salt. Cover it and let it stand for 10 minutes. This process actually activates yeast. make sure water is not hot otherwise yeast may die.
2. Mix in yeast mixture into remaining flour, add Olive oil and knead it for 3-4 minutes till soft dough.

3. Place the dough in the shallow vessel and cover it with a thin wet cloth. Let it rest for 1-2 hours.

4. If you check it now you can see the dough has risen and its time to knead it again. Make it rest for another 1 or 2 hours.

For Pizza Sauce:
Heat oil in a skillet add minced garlic to it. When the garlic turns a little brown, add finely chopper onions to it. Saute for 3 minutes. Now add tomato puree and let it cook another for 2 minutes. Add tomato ketchup, red chili powder (or chili flakes), oregano, parsley, salt and little sugar to it.

(Onion and tomato ketchup give a thicker consistency to the sauce. Make sure the sauce is thick so that when you spread it over the base it wont make it soggy).

For Toppings:
When using onion and capsicum I prefer to cut them in long slits and saute then in oil a little before using them. If you decide do saute onions and capsicum, make sure to remove excess water from the sauteed veggies before using them. We can use raw veggies as well.

Other toppings are tomatoes, jalapeno, olives and many more which you know :) .

For Pizza:

1. I usually make two pizzas of large size from this amount of dough. Knead the risen dough again and take half the dough on a flour greased surface (or kitchen top). Roll it a little and then with hands spread it into a large size pizza base. Make use of the flour if your hands stick to the dough in this process.
2. Make some tiny holes all over the base with the help of fork. Add pizza sauce evenly over the base or as required, add the toppings, and generously add the grated cheese. Sprinkle fresh or dried parsley and oregano as per taste.
3. Bake in a hot (350C) oven. Check in between . The pizza base rises while baking. The pizza is ready when the cheese has melted and it turns brown. remove the pizza from the oven and with the help of pizza cutter, cut the pizza into desired number of pieces.

Tips: 

• In my first attempt I got a lot of ideas about how the pizza preparation process should go. So do not worry if the pizza does not come out as expected. It takes one or two tries and you will get to it. :).

• The borders of the base taste very plain. To add some taste to it apply the garlic paste. (Garlic + Butter + little salt)
• Have you tried the artisan pizza from Dominoes which is made of Spinach and feta cheese. I love this pizza and this combination is due in my to do list.
• The pizza base dough can remain in t refrigerators for few days.