Vegetable Pizza

We have totally stopped ordering pizza’s from the day I made my first pizza. Until then I didn’t know pizza making was so simple and so much fun. The best part about making your own pizza is you get to experiment with a variety of toppings and crusts… I love my pizza with very light cheese, wheat crust and lots of toppings. So bid goodbye to expensive pizza chains and try out this recipe for a perfect medium crust pizza…

Yield: 2 medium size pizzas

INGREDIENTS:

Pizza base:

All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 ½ cup

Wheat Flour – 1 ½   (alternatively, you can use 3 cups of maida)

Salt – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp

Olive oil – 2-3 Tbsp

Dry Yeast – 1 ½

Water   (as required for making the dough)

Pizza toppings

Pizza sauce – 2 tbsp  (I used Maggi Pizza sauce)

Vegetable Toppings : (Chop all the vegetables into thin long slices)

Onion – ½

Green Capsicum – ½

Yellow/Red Capsicum – ½

Tomato – ½

Green chilli – 1 (cut into thin rings)

Mozzarella Cheese or Pizza cheese – as required (grated)

Herbs – Oregano, Parsley, Chilli flakes (as per taste)

 Method for making the base:

1. Add sugar to 1 cup of warm water and mix. Add the dry yeast granules to this and stir till the granules dissolve. Let it sit for 5-10 mins till bubbles show on the top.

 

2. Take the flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil and mix well.

 

3. Next add the yeast water and start mixing with hand or a spoon till the dough becomes sticky and tight.

 

4. Knead well  with your palm to form a smooth dough. Add more water or flour as required while kneading and shape the dough into a ball .

 

5. Coat with a layer of olive oil and keep it closed for 2 – 2 ½ hours.

 

6. After 2 hours, the dough would have nicely risen up. Punch  it down with your fist to get rid of all the air.

 

7. If you are planning to make the pizza the next day, at this stage you can wrap it tightly with a plastic wrap and store in the fridge. Defrost to room temperature for about 30-40 minutes before making the pizza.

 

8. Knead the dough with your hands for 5 mins. The dough will be nice and elastic now. On a clean slab or plate, sprinkle some flour and place the dough in the centre.

 

9. Spread the dough with your hands in the desired shape to make the pizza base. Make sure the base is about not very thick as it becomes double after baking.  You can use a rolling pin if needed. 

10. Turn on the oven. Preheat to 200 degrees C with both the grills on.

Method of baking the pizza: 

1. Grease an oven tray with olive oil. Sprinkle a thin layer of flour.

2. Transfer the pizza base onto the tray.

3. Prick few holes with a fork on the base so that the base cooks evenly. Brush a thin layer of olive oil on the top.

 

4. Then, spread a layer of pizza sauce.

 

5. Next add all the toppings in this sequence – onions, capsicum, tomato and green chilli .

 

6. Grate the cheese and spread on the top. Sprinkle herbs like basil or parsley if available.

 

7. The oven must be ready for baking by now. Place the tray in the oven. Bake at 200 degrees C for 10- 18 mins  based on your oven capacity.

 

8. Once the cheese and base turn slightly brown, take out the tray from the oven.

9. Transfer the pizza on to a clean plate and cut into slices. Sprinkle oregano and chili-flakes on top and serve it hot!!

 

Cooking Tips:

• Slice all vegetables thin and long so that it’s easier to bake. Remove  the liquid portion from tomato as it causes the base to become soggy.
• You can even saute` the vegetables slightly  in olive oil before adding to the pizza.
• Whole wheat dough takes more time to rise than regular flour (maida).
• If you want the dough to rise quickly, keep the container in a plate filled with hot water  for 1 hour.