Pizza | How to prepare pizza base

Now that I have learnt some basic baking recipes of biscuits and muffins I thought of venturing into pizza. Pizza , the name itself makes the mouth water for  almost all of us. Though we know it is high in calorie we still enjoy pizza and especially kids love pizza the most. All the time it is not economical to buy pizza for them at Pizza outlets and not good for health too.

But this was not an easy journey. I failed at the first attempt. My pizza was not fully cooked. The insides of the base was bit raw and I started investigating what went wrong. One thing I figured out was the dough I prepared was slightly thick or tight - the water content was not enough. The dough needs to be slightly loose than our chapathi dough.

I saw a vah re vah video wherein the chef states that many have complained that the pizza base doesn't get cooked properly. The chef suggested that its better to cook the dough on stove top after flattening it before it goes into the oven. I followed this the second time and it paid off.

The other thing is in convection oven always keep the pizza tray on top of a grill. I dont have a grill attached in my oven but I have a grill stand. First time I placed my pizza tray directly on top of the glass rotating plate in the oven. It seems the hot air will not go underneath the pizza plate in this case and the pizza might not get cooked from the bottom. H pointed this out. So I place my grill stand in the oven and then place the pizza tray on top of this.

After all this lessons learnt - now my pizzas are a hit. So over to the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

All purpose flour  - 1 and 1/2 cup
Dry yeast   - 2 and 1/2 tsp
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt  - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil -  1 tblsp

Toppings:

Grated mozzarella Cheese - 3/4 cup to 1 cup
Pasta sauce  -  1/4 cup
Red chilli flakes -  As needed
Oregano   - as needed
Basil leaves
Mixed veggies (for pizza topping)*
* I used some meat pieces also.

Method:
Add the yeast, sugar and salt in luke warm .
Let this sit for ten minutes and stir nicely.



In a wide bowl add the flour and make a dent.
Pour in the  yeast mixture and knead it into a smooth dough. Add oil while kneading. You may need 1-2 tblsp extra water to knead the dough.



Cover with a wet damp cloth or with a vessel and keep it aside for an hour.
The dough must have doubled  in size by this time. Mean while keep the veggies ready.



Punch down the dough and roll it on a floured surface
I just rolled using rolling pin (Adjust the thickness and roll out to a single base) and folded the ends.


Prick some holed in the pizza base using a fork.
Spread the sauce and sprinkle some cheese.(Optional to spread cheese at this stage)



Arrange the toppings as desired and add the grated cheese to cover the toppings.
Drizzle with little olive oil on top.

To bake the pizza:

Place a tava on the stove and place the pizza plate with the pizza on it. Keep it in medium flame for about 5 minutes. This is done so that the pizza base gets cooked from the bottom.
Meanwhile preheat the oven at 200 degree celsius.
Take the pizza plate from the tava, switch off the stove and place the pizza plate in the oven and bake for about 15-18 minutes until all the cheese melts and the pizza baze turns light brown in color.

Take out the pizza from the oven and leave it aside for about 2-3 minutes. This would be the hardest part with kids around :-)

Cut the pizzas with pizza cutter/knife and make wedges and enjoy hot,spicy  and yummy pizza :)

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