Pizza

Easy home-made pizza from scratch

I have always been intimidated of bread-making in general. Taking a nice bread-making course still remains on my to-do list. The worst part of bread making is kneading the dough, considering the fact that I have some major carpal tunnel syndrome thanks to my corporate job that needs me to type relentlessly..

But with this recipe, you don’t need to worry about kneading! no CTS nightmares and no need for the expensive kitchen-aid you have been aspiring to own! basically, this is not just a no-knead dough, its a zero efforts dough altogether! the only thing you need to keep in mind is that this dough needs 24 hours to ferment unlike other bread dough recipes. But just look at the result it gives with those beautiful air holes, its too good to be true! It yields a crunchy crust with a light, airy base. Just look at that crust !!!

Another beautiful feature of this recipe is that you can make both thin and thick crust pizzas with the same dough!

And if you aren’t sold yet, you can make the dough and marinara sauce in bulk and store both in the fridge for up to two weeks. The sauce can stay even longer, just cover it with a layer or olive oil. Isn’t it a savior to amke especially during quarantine, once the dough and sauce are ready, you can fix yourself a pizza in a matter of minutes, any time you crave it!

So without further ado, let’s get straight to the recipe for the dough and a delicious tomato sauce from scratch!!

You will need:

Makes 3-5 10 inch pizzas, depending on the thickness you like.

For the Pizza crust:

• 1 1/3 cup lukewarm water – the water should be such that when you touch it with your fingers, you should barely sense that its warm. This is the perfect temperature for the yeast to bloom

• 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast – this is way lesser than what the packet says, but this recipe doesn’t only rely on the yeast for fermentation, as we let it ferment for 24 hours, so don’t worry. 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (total weight of flour is approximately 530 g) 

I am trying to make a whole grain version of this, will post it separately when I perfect it 🙂

For the Marinara/ tomato sauce:

• 4-5 whole tomatoes
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 6-8 cloves of garlic finely crushed
• salt, pepper, oregano, chilli flakes, onion and garlic powders – for seasoning
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup – optional. If you do not wish to use the ketchup, add another tomato to the recipe and a teaspoon of sugar to the seasonings.

you can easily store this sauce in an airtight glass jar for up to two weeks. Add a layer of olive oil on top for better preservation.

For the toppings:

• Fresh mozzarella cheese and Italian basil for the topping for margarita pizza.
• Or any other toppings and cheeses of your choice

Procedure:

For the crust:

• In a large bowl add in the flour, salt and yeast. Add the salt and yeast away from each other, as the salt can deactivate the yeast, if it comes in direct concentration with the salt in high concentrations.
• Mix all the dry ingredients well

• Mix the oil into the lukewarm water.
• Pour the liquid mixture in the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon/ spatula  or your hand. Mixing with the hands enhances the fermentation process – which is true for all fermented dough and batters.
• Adjust the water, if needed, as depending on the climate, you may need less or more water at times.
• Mix it until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough and no lumps of dry flour are left.
• It will be a loose, soft and saggy dough.
• Scrape the dough from the sides and gather into a ball in the center.

• tightly cover the dough with a cling film and lid and place in a warm place. Since it is quite cold here at the moment, I placed my dough in direct sunlight just for a few hours.

• Let the dough to sit at room temperature and ferment for about 18-24 hours.

• After the 20 odd hours of fermentation, the dough will have more than doubled in size with lots of the bubbles. It is normal and expected for it to smell acidic/ alcoholic kind of like beer, don’t worry, that’s what you are aiming for!
• Dust a surface with some flour and scrape the risen dough from the container onto it. dust your hands with some flour and gently work the dough into a manageable ball of dough – that’s it, no kneading! Take care to not disturb the air bubbles.
• Cut the dough into 4 pieces and using extra flour to handle if needed.

• Lightly knead each portion to make a ball, again very gently without releasing the air bubbles.

• The dough is ready to be used at this point, if you do not want to use it immediately, you can refrigerate it and use it as needed for up to 5 days.
• If using immediately, allow to rest on a floured board covered for 30 minutes. before working on flattening the crust, make sure your dough is completely at room temperature, if using refrigerated dough.
• On a flat baking tray or pizza peel, dust it with some fine wheat semolina. With floured hands gently stretch your pizza dough. Place it on the tray and flatten with the tips of your fingers, until you achieve your desired thickness
• Pre-cook the crust for 5 minutes at 220 C (~450 F). This step is especially necessary if you are making a thick crust or are cooking in a convection oven, as the dough tends to remain under-cooked.
• You may poke holes in the crust before baking if you dont like a bumpy pizza base to add your toppings to, because it will rise!!

• Make a cross cut on the tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, depending on the firmness of the tomatoes.
• After blanching, add in cold water and peel. Puree with a blender on low speed.

• In a pan, take some olive oil and saute a chopped onion in it. Do not let it brown just let it sweat. Add some salt to help this process.
• Add in the crushed garlic
• Once the onions are cooked, add the tomato puree.

• Add the tomato ketchup and let simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Add all the seasonings when a little oil starts to leave from the sides.

• Cool the sauce before use. You can also store it in an airtight container for a few days in the refrigerator. If you want to store it for longer, add a layer of raw olive oil on top – this will preserve the sauce for longer.

Assembling the pizza:

• On the pre-cooked base, add a large dollop of your freshly made tomato sauce
• Put generous amounts of mozzarella cheese and some basil (If you don’t like cooked basil, add the basil leaves after the pizza is completely baked.

• Bake the pizza at 220-230 C for 10 minutes. Add some more fresh basil and drizzle EVOO before serving.

You can also try different toppings, in the pictures below I have layered the pizza with a mix of Monterrey jack, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and added sliced red onions, green bell peppers and some Chicken tikka and reshmi kebabs 

And in the one below I have added sliced mushrooms, peppers, jalapenos and onions. I love to top it with extra chilli flakes or hot sauce after baking

One of my favorites is drizzling pesto sauce (after baking) on a simple marinara+mozzarella pizza instead of adding basil leaves

Another must try combo is grilled mushrooms, goat cheese, fried onions and balsamic either on a naked crust or layered with some white sauce. I also like to add thin slices of garlic on it and let t brown and become crisp while it bakes.

You can also experiment with the following combos:

1. pesto sauce (instead of the tomato sauce), mozzarela and fresh basil
2. fresh figs, fetta, mozzarela and topped with some honey after baking
3. cream cheese topped with capers and smoked salmon and dill after baking.

The possibilities are endless!!

I sincerely hope you enjoy cooking and devouring this as much as I did!!