Ingredients
Whole-wheat flour – 1 ½ cup
All purpose flour – 1 ½ cup
Extra virgin olive oil – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Yeast – 1 ½ tsp
Sugar – ¼ tsp
Take ¼ cup of warm water in a cup. Add sugar and yeast. Mix with a spoon until the yeast and sugar dissolve. Keep it in a warm place. The yeast will become active in about 5 to 10 minutes. You need to use good quality yeast to get good results. The best tool in the kitchen, your hands, is all what you need to make a good pizza dough. Make a dough by adding the flours,yeastwater and salt.Add more water if needed. Press it to a ball shape using your hands. Smear olive oil over the dough ball and place it in a large mixing bowl. Cover it with a clean damp kitchen towel. Keep it in a warm place to rise. After an hour, check the dough. It would have doubled its size. Punch it down and let it rise for another 45 minutes covered in a warm place.
You may substitute whole wheat flour with all purpose flour. But adding whole wheat flour makes it more nutritious and tasty.
You can use a store bought tomato sauce or pizza sauce. You can also make homemade tomato sauce.
Simple Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil,1 small onion chopped,2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped1 carrot, choppedSea salt and freshly ground black pepper2 (32-ounce), cans crushed tomatoes2, dried bay leaves,4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional. In a large pot or pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.Add 1/2 the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce. If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.
Spread the tomato sauce evenly on the rolled out pizza crust.
Toppings:
The variety of toppings you can put on a pizza is endless. Onion, bell peppers, fresh tomato, minced garlic, sautéed mushrooms, meat cut into small cubes and precooked with your favorite marinade, meat,black olives, green olives,fish or shrimps if you dare,salt and pepper, and toasted it in a skillet greased with olive oil.
Here I have to made the chicken pizza.So I used the cubes of cooked chicken breasts.When it is cooked add little salt and pepper and a little water. I steamed it in cooker. I also used the toppings like chopped cabbage,onion,bell pepper,garlic,carrot etc. Ofcourse there is also a lot of shredded cheese evenly over the topping.Sprinkle a little of salt and pepper. You can use less cheese if you are dieting, or make it extra cheesy by adding more cheese.
It is good to have a pizza stone for baking the pizza. A baking stone will give you a nice crispy crust. If you don’t have one, you can try a big cast iron skillet, or a cookie sheet.Place the pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and preheat it to 475 degree F. It is important that you preheat the oven at least 30 minutes before baking the pizza. Don’t put the pizza into a cold oven and start it. It won’t come out right. Transfer the prepared pizza to the pizza stone and bake it for 8 to 12 minutes. The time varies depending on the performance of your oven. So watch it carefully while you make it the first time. The pizza is ready when the cheese is all melted, and the crust turns golden brown around the edges. That's it delicois........
