Pizza

This is always a favourite with kids and most adults. Personally, I dislike the pizza that we get in fast food restaurants and so we try to make it home from scratch whenever we want to eat it. My grandson is always keen to help to make this, which inevitably makes it take a little longer than it would otherwise! This pizza is quick, relatively healthy and can be customised to individual tastes.

Pizza dough

Warm water – 1 cup 
Active dry yeast – 2 ¼ tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Maida/Atta – approximately 2 ½ cups 
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Salt – 1 tbsp or to taste 
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water and allow the yeast to bloom (around 10-15 min). Add the flour (any proportion of maida and atta will work. I generally use at least 50% atta, if not more), salt and oil and knead well to make a slightly loose dough. Cover with a warm cloth and allow the dough to rise for an hour or so.

 

Pizza sauce 
(As mentioned in lasagne recipe)

Tomatoes – 8-10 ripe, cut into large chunks
Garlic – 2 cloves
Basil – ½ cup, chopped (fresh) or 1 tsp (dry)
Olive oil – 2 tsp
Onion – 1, chopped, fine (optional)
Salt/Chilli flakes – to taste

Fry the garlic and onion in olive oil in a large kadai. Use a hand blender to puree the tomatoes well and add to the kadai, adding salt and chilli flakes to taste. Keep on high heat until it boils, then reduce heat and cook until it reaches sauce consistency. I usually add a little bit of wheat flour mixed in water to thicken the sauce. Add basil towards the end. The leftover sauce can be frozen or refrigerated for use on another occasion.

 

To make pizza

Preheat the oven to 240 C.
Punch and knead the pizza dough and take the required amount. With a bit of flour, roll it out to the size of the pizza dish. Place it on the dish, spread sauce and desired toppings. Bake for ten min, then remove from oven, add desired cheese and continue to bake for 10 minutes more or till crust and cheese are of desired colour. 
You can let your imagination run wild when it comes to toppings. Here I have used sun dried tomato, olive, basil and fresh buffalo mozzarella for one pizza. For the other I used just olive, basil and a mix of grated mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

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