Homemade Pizza From Scratch

Hi everyone,

Who does not like Pizza? The delicious crust, the tangy sauce, the juicy toppings & the cheesy crust mmmmmmm. But what stops us from enjoying this delicacy is the extra fat from the fast food chains & let's not forget, its never easy on the pocket as well.

Like everyone me & my family tried to make the pizza at home, but we always got the base from outside. Now that base is as good as a pita bread / Big bread slice depending on where you get it from. I always wanted to make the pizza from scratch at home & my latest purchase, my beloved oven made it possible for me.

So without further delay,
Here's a simple easy to follow recipe.

Makes 2-3 medium size Pizzas
Preparation time 2-2.5 hours
Cooking time - 20-30 mins

For The Dough :

2 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 cups all purpose flour (maida) or whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup warm water (it should be warm enough to dip your pinky in, too hot & the yeast won't rise)

Add sugar, salt & yeast to the warm water & mix gently. Cover it up & leave it undisturbed for 10-12 mins. Try to use a transparent cover so that you can check whether yeast is bubbling or not without disturbing the cup.
PS - If your yeast has not foamed & bubbled, it won't raise so start again with new yeast.

Take the dry flour in a large mixing bowl & add the oil & the yeast water.
Start kneading the dough similar to how you would knead it while making Roti / Chapati / Bread.
If needed use a little extra water. Knead the dough until it's smooth & elastic for 3-4 mins.

Take a ziplock bag & oil the insides well. Now rub olive oil on the dough nicely & place it in the ziplock bag. Leave it in a dry & warm place, I kept it inside my oven itself. Leave the dough undisturbed for at least 2 hours. By this time the dough will have doubled in size.

Rolling out the Dough:

Place the dough on your rolling board & divide it into 2-3 pieces.
Dust your rolling board with a moderate helping of flour & gently start rolling it out like a Roti / Chapati.
For Thin crust pizza - Roll out your dough till it is as thick as a well stuffed Aaloo Paratha
For Thick crust pizza - Roll out your dough till it is as thick as 1.5-2 well stuffed Aaloo Parathas

For The Sauce:
1/2 medium size chopped tomato
1/2 medium size finely chopped onion
3-4 cloves of grated garlic
1/4 tbsp pizza mix herbs / pasta mix herbs OR make a combination of dry basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme or any herb you like
1/4 tbsp dry garlic powder
1/4 tbsp mustard sauce
1/2 tbsp crushed black pepper
1/2 cup tomato ketchup 
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Water to get the desired consistency 

Take a nonstick pan & add olive oil & garlic to it (add garlic to the cold oil itself to get the best flavour out of it). Once the garlic starts to sizzle add in the finely chopped onions, cook the onions till they become translucent. Add in the tomatoes & salt, cook till the tomatoes get pulpy & start separating.
Add in the dry spices & cook for about a minute followed by ketchup & mustard.
Cook for 2-3 mins & add water. Reduce the sauce to the desired consistency (It should be more or less like runny ketchup for easy spreading.)

The Toppings:
This is a step which depends on your taste.
You can cut some toppings small, some big, do them anyway you like.

I went for a capsicum, mushroom, jalapeño & chicken sausage topping.
I sautéed the mushrooms & capsicum lightly in the pan that I had used to make the sauce. This helped  give my mushrooms & capsicum another dimension of flavour. The jalapeños & chicken sausages were cut into small bite size pieces.

Layering the Pizza:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree C for 8-10 mins with all the four rods elements on.

Dust your baking sheet with some flour & place your rolled out pizza base on it directly. (Alternatively you can also roll out your base & place it on the butter paper & then layer, this step avoids mess & prevents the base from burning. )Add a generous helping of the sauce & spread it all over the base. Make sure to leave half inch space around the edges. Put all your toppings & then top with cheese. Optionally you can brush the non sauce covered area of the base with some olive oil / Garlic oil for the extra flavour. 
Remember to do this as quickly as you can & do not let your topped pizza sit on the tray as it may lead to soggy pizzas.

Place the baking dish in the oven & cook with all four rods on for 7-8 mins or till your pizza starts to shrink a little. Switch to top 2 heating rods & cook for 3-4 mins or till the outer crust starts to develop a little color. Take out your pizza from the oven & drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.

Your home made pizza is ready to be eaten :)
Making pizza at home may sound complicated but its really easy.
Do try this recipe & let me know how it works out.

Happy Cooking :)

Simple Quick & Easy Palak Paneer

Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I have added anything here. Basically I am adding the recipes which I have perfected. Being a young working women, I am not always able to make my recipes perfect.

Ingredients : (for 2 people)

One Spinach (Palak) bunch

2 medium sized tomatoes / 1 big tomato

2 medium sized Onions / 1 big Onion

3,4 garlic cloves

1/2 inch ginger piece.]

1-2  Green chillies (as per taste, but do use one at least)

Panner (according to preference, I have used 200 gms)

1 tbsp jeera for tampering

1-2 tbsp ghee or 3-4 tbsp oil

1/4 tbsp of red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder & garam masala

Salt to taste

Preparations

Thinly slice the onions & keep aside. Remember the thinner they are, the better the taste :)

Wash the tomatoes & keep aside. Basically we need to blanch the tomatoes.

This can be done in two ways, either we put them in boiling hot water or cook them for 2-3 mins in microwave. The important thing to remember here is, before we proceed with blanching, we need to remove the top green part & on the bottom side we need to make very thin cuts in a cross shape. This is to loosen the skin of the tomatoes so that they are easier to peel.

So once we have prepared our tomatoes we need to blanch them & then set them aside for at least 10 mins so that they get cooled.

Once the tomatoes have cooled down, take out the skin as much as you can.

Add the blanched tomatoes, garlic, ginger & green chillies to a blender or chopper & process till its a smooth paste.

Now for the spinach-

We need to cut off the roots & wash it properly.

Next we need to take about 100-150 ml (small cup) of water & heat it in a vessel.

Once the water is hot we add the washed spinach to it & cover with a lid.

The idea here is to partly steam & not exactly boil the spinach, boiling the spinach takes out most of the flavour so we should use as little water as we can.

Once the spinach is reduced to half & still looks green, we need to turn off the flame & let it cool.

Once cool, we need to grind it to a fine paste in the blender or chopper. If you need additional water, use the one in which we boiled the spinach.

Take the paneer out & dunk it in warm water if you have time.

Otherwise just cut into small cubes.

Some people like to fry the panner a little in ghee/butter/oil to. I avoid this part for some health reasons but it really enhances the taste :)

Cooking:

Take a kadhai & add the ghee/oil to it.

Once the ghee is hot, add the jeera, please ensure that the jeera floats up in the ghee otherwise it will taste a little raw.

Next add the thinly sliced onions & cook them till their edges start turning a little brown.

Next add the blanched tomato, garlic, chilly ginger mixture & Salt

Cook till the mixture starts to leave the ghee / oil.

Add the pureed spinach to the mixture & mix well. Cook for less then 1.5 mins & add the paneer cubes.

Mix everything and cook for less then 2 mins on medium flame.

Turn off the flame & cover the kadhai with a lid. (this helps keep the paneer soft & palak green & the curry is cooked in its own heat)

Open the lid after 10 mins & your yummy Palak Paneer is ready to be served!

Some people like to top it off with a spoon full of malai or lemon juice to :)

It's very simple & will not take more then 20 mins from start to finish.

Tastes excellent with roti or paratha.

Do let me know how this recipe worked out for you & Happy Cooking :)