I’ve been quite busy with some stuff at home, hence the lack of posts this week!! Anyway, I hope this recipe will make up for my absence :-).
If you’ve been my long time follower, you’ve already seen my first pizza recipe. New here? Never fear, ‘cause you can still see it here. (Hey, that rhymes!) This recipe differs mainly in the fact that I’ve used multigrain flour for the base and I also made my own pizza sauce :-). I am so proud of myself!! Now, if only I also learnt to make cheese…..
Part I - Pizza Base
What you’ll need (2 pizza bases – serves 4):
250 g multigrain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp olive oil
100 ml + more warm water
What you’re going to do:
1. Mix the flour and salt with a hand whisk till well mixed.
2. Dissolve the sugar in 1/2 a cup of warm water and add the yeast. Let it rest for 15 minutes, till all fermented and bubbly.
3. Add yeast mixture to the flour mix. Add more warm water to form a soft dough.
4. Add 1 tsp of olive oil to the dough, knead again and cover with a wet kitchen towel and leave to rise for 45 minutes ideally, or 30 minutes if you’re in a hurry.
5. After it has risen, punch down the dough and knead again. Roll out into a circle slightly larger than the base of your baking tin. Make sure the pizza is of uniform thickness.
6. Curl in the edges of the pizza and prick all over with a fork as shown in the picture.
7. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and bake the pizza base for 10 minutes.
Part II – Pizza Sauce
What you’ll need (For 2 pizza bases):
350 g tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp garlic chopped
2 tsp dried basil
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
What you’re going to do:
1. Pour olive oil in pan, and as it heats up, toss in garlic.
2. Fry for about 10 seconds, then lower heat and put in tomatoes and salt.
3. Cover and cook till mushy. Break down chunks with back of spoon.
4. Add basil, pepper and tomato sauce. Simmer till thick. If it’s too watery, it’ll ooze out in a pretty unpleasant way.
Note: I like my pizza sauce chunky, which is why I used whole fresh tomatoes. If you want it smoother, you can either blanch the tomatoes, peel, deseed and then puree, or you could use the ready to use packaged tomato puree.
Part III – Pizza Toppings
What you’ll need (For 2 pizza bases):
Note: The sky is really the limit here, I’ve just given a few sample ingredients below.
2 pizza bases that have been baked as per Part I
Pizza sauce as prepared in Part II, divided into half
(Divide the following ingredients into half for each pizza base)
100 g salami/sausages/cooked chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 capsicum sliced into rings
1/4 cup sweet corn
1/2 cup button mushrooms
100 g mozzarella cheese grated
2 tsp oregano
1. Spread the sauce on the base evenly. Put in just enough to cover about 90% of the base.
2. Arrange the salami/sausage/chicken on the sauce, followed by capsicum rings.
3. Sprinkle the sweet corn evenly across the base.
4. Top with grated cheese and sprinkle oregano over it.
5. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and bake the pizza base for 10 minutes, till the cheese is all melted.
10. Cool a bit, cut into slices and dig in!!
I’ve tried two versions of toppings – one with sausages, olives and regular Amul Cheese and one with salami, mushroom and mozzarella. You can use any combination of veggies, meats and cheeses – they’ll all be irresistible!!
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| Look at that lovely crust!! |
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| All that lovely melted cheese!! |
Except for the cheese part, this is quite a healthy pizza, with multigrain flour, very little oil, salt and loads of veggies. Using fresh chicken/paneer instead of processed meats makes it even healthier. You can always reduce the cheese, although I wouldn’t suggest doing away with it altogether.
Honestly, this isn’t difficult to make and is a perfect meal for when you have little guests/playdates to entertain. Something their Moms can’t find fault with!!
This recipe is a participant in the ‘Flavors of Cuisine – Italian’ event hosted by Priya at Priya’s Versatile Recipes, which is part of the Flavors of Cuisine series started by Julie at ErivumPuliyum.
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