A good mean home baked thin crust pizza can satisfy all your pizza cravings, that is what I got assured of, when I baked my very first own home made pizza in my conventional oven. Oh my! I got myself totally into the slice of this hell of a fresh-out-of-the-oven-thin-crust pizza. And I felt so smug eating that! That was then, and I was eating pizza for next four consecutive meals this weekend. Yeah, you read that right. When it comes to pizza, like everyone else I’ve got my own choices. I just can’t stand a thick crust bread kind of pizza. Thinner it is, better it is! And other thing which I love about my slice of pizza is that it should be devoid of any bulky voluptuous toppings, rather I’d go plane jane Margherita! You can blindly judge a pizzeria about how right they’ve got to make the basic Margherita. It gets little tricky when it comes to rolling your own pizza and baking it in your home oven, as opposed to a wood fired pizza. But trust me, if you got all your tricks right, your creation coming out of your own faithful home oven can any day beat the wood fired pizza, barring the smoky taste which only a burning wood can lend. And I hope you can settle down on that for sure, once you’ve bitten into the hot pizza. I followed this simple recipe of pizza base from The Kitchn and modified it slightly to make it even more healthier by replacing part of the all purpose flour with whole wheat. Rest all remains same. In case, you are wondering about the pizza sauce, it’s an uncooked version made with well drained canned tomatoes blended with some garlic cloves and basil leaves. Easy peasy it is! All you need is good mozzarella {spare the fresh watery mozzarella/bocconcini for those lovely salads, peeps}, roughly torn fresh basil leaves and a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese to go over it. You’d never hesitate to roll your own pizza at home. And sure, play around with toppings and sauces, as you like them to be.
- 3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tsp active-dry or instant yeast
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 500 gm can whole or diced tomatoes
- 6 to 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup loosely packed basil leaves
- Salt
- Fresh-cracked pepper
- Olive oil
- 200 gm sliced mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup loosely packed basil leaves
- handful of pitted olives
- freshly grated parmesan cheese
- olive oil to drizzle
- Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl, and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix until you've formed a shaggy dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface along with any loose flour still in the bowl. Knead until all the flour is incorporated, and the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Let the dough rise until you need it or until doubled in bulk (about an hour and a half). After rising, you can use the dough or refrigerate it for up to 3 days.
- Cover the dough with the upside-down mixing bowl or a clean kitchen towel while you prepare the pizza toppings.
- Drain the tomatoes to remove any excess juice.
- Blend together tomatoes, garlic cloves, basil leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper in a blender to make a smooth puree.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degree C and lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Working with one piece of the dough at a time, form it into a large disk with your hands and roll it with a rolling pin. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for 5 minutes and then continue rolling.
- Place the rolled pizza base onto the baking sheet. Spoon a few tablespoons of sauce into the center of the pizza and use the back of a spoon to spread it out to the edges. Top with mozzarella, olives, basil leaves. Bake the pizza right on the baking sheet.
- Bake for about 5 minutes and then rotate the pizza. Bake for another 5 minutes until the crust is golden-brown and the cheese looks toasty.
- Remove the pizza from oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Repeat with shaping, topping, and baking the remaining pizza dough.
- Sprinkle with parmesan and drizzle with some olive oil. Slice and serve hot.