Excuse these latest pictures, and feast ye eyes on this hunk of a cheesy pizza. Hot out of the oven and made from scratch. It’s fresh and it’s fast and it’s a feast.
This dainty little thing fed about 5 people. It’s not exactly thin crust, though you could make that if you wished. This was a fat, almost focaccia like base with tons of toppings and cheese.
Ingredients
for the dough base:
500 gms strong flour
1 packet active dry yeast.
230 mls lukewarm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
20 mls olive oil.(regular olive oil)
Toppings
300 gms of good mozzarella cheese
diced and chopped vegetables/meats of your choice.(billions of combinations, have fun with your food)
– I used peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, chillies diced thin.
Pizza sauce- my recipe
4-5 medium-sized blanched tomatoes.
1 tsp oregano
1 small chopped onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil (regular not extra virgin)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup red wine (any good red wine)it really brings in the flavours.
1/2 tsp crushed black pepper.
DOUGH BASE
Firstly dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water and keep aside.
Sift the flour, salt and add in the yeast. mix well. gradually add in the warm water to the flour and knead well to make a smooth, stretchy dough. If you need a mixer for the this, go ahead and knock yourself out. I love a bit of intense labour work and made a dough simply using my hands.
Once the dough is nice and smooth, and I kneaded for a good 10-15 minutes, add in the oil and knead again. Once done, leave it to rise in a warm place, cover with a well oiled cling film or moist tea towel. This rising will take about an hour.
PIZZA SAUCE
in a food processor give the tomatoes a few pulses so that they size down a bit and are quicker to cook.
In a saucepan, heat oil and butter and add the minced garlic cloves and onions. add a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Tip in the tomatoes and cook until softened and thickened about 10 minutes. Once the gloopy sauce has turned into a thicker paste and you see bits sticking into the saucepan add in the wine stirring continuously ensuring that all the caramelized pieces are deglazed and mixed into the sauce. Once the wine starts bubbling out and reducing, start adding in the oregano, salt and pepper. Let it all cook till it’s no longer watery and looks spreadable.
Leave it to cool, and check out your pizza dough. give it a couple of good punches, once you see it has doubled in size and let it deflate. Leave it to rise again for another 15 minutes and get on with the pan/tray you want to make your pizza in.
I used a jelly roll pan which was about 12X12X1 inch and generously oiled it.
Tip in the dough into the pan and start stretching it to fit completely. It might not look like it will fit, but yes it will. make sure that it’s not uneven. keep smoothening it out and make it fit well.
Once done spread the pizza sauce leaving at least 1/2 inch along the border of the pizza. sprinkle with half of the grated mozzarella cheese and adorn with toppings. Mound the remaining cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes in a hot 200℃ oven.
Slice it into the pan, don’t even bother taking it out. Feed as many or reserve for a delicious cold breakfast next day.
Driedredchillies 