A customizable tasty pizza made from scratch - crust & sauce included! Lately I have an obsession with avocado, but you can customize the toppings to suit your personal taste!
Pizza Dough
For the pizza dough you will need only a few simple and basic ingredients. Dry yeast, sugar or honey, warm water, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and all purpose flour. You can either knead the dough using your hands or use a stand mixer to make your life easier.
First you will need to activate the yeast. In a bowl or in a stand mixer's bowl add warm water (make sure that is neither cold nor hot, otherwise the yeast won't be activated), dry yeast and some sugar or honey (both will work). Stir and let sit for some minutes until the yeast will be activated. This will last for approximately 10 minutes. Then add some extra virgin olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Stir to combine and gradually add the flour. If you are using a stand mixer, use the K-attachment that's suitable for doughs and while adding the flour keep the mixer on low speed, so that the flour won't thrown out of the bucket.
With this dough quantity you can either do two thin pizzas or a thicker one.
Homemade Pizza Sauce
This pizza sauce recipe uses simple ingredients like fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and some seasoning - salt & pepper to taste, dried oregano, dried basil and some sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. In case you aren't a garlic fan, you can avoid it.
If you have fresh tomatoes, remove skin and core and chop them finely to use them for the sauce. If you don't, just use some canned tomatoes. In both cases you can either use chopped tomatoes or simply add them in a food processor and pulse. I personally love to feel the tomato chunks when enjoying my pizza. It gives a feeling of freshness.
Pizza Toppings
Basic - pizza sauce and cheese. I used only mozzarella, but you can make a combination of different cheese types.
Meat - pizza sauce, cheese, salami or cooked shredded chicken etc.
Mixed - pizza sauce and cheese, peppers, mushrooms, olives, corn etc.
Exotic - pizza sauce and cheese, pineapple etc.
The topping ideas are endless. Choose the one that tastes better for you and enjoy!
Recipe
Servings: 8-12
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients
For Pizza Dough:
400 gr. all purpose flour
300 ml warm water
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
8 gr. dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar or honey
salt
pepper
For Pizza Sauce:
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
400 gr tomatoes, chopped (canned or fresh with 1 tsp. tomato paste)
1 clove minced garlic (optional)
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 dried basil
1 pinch of sugar
salt
pepper
To assemble:
250 gr. Mozzarella, sliced or shredded
Toppings (optional and flexible)
fresh basil leaves
sliced avocado
olives etc
Method
For Pizza Dough:
In a bowl or in a stand mixer's bowl add water, yeast and sugar/ honey. Mix with a wooden spoon until it dissolves and wait approx. 10 minutes for the yeast to be activated.
Add olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix.
Gradually add all purpose flour and mix. Mix until dough is forming to a cohesive, elastic ball and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (If needed, add more flour, but be careful, because the dough should be slightly sticky, but manageable with your hands).
Drizzle a separate large bowl with olive oil and use a pastry brush to brush up the sides of the bowl.
Lightly dust your hands with flour and form dough into a round ball.
Transfer dough to the bowl and roll dough along the inside of the bowl until it is coated in olive oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.
Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
While waiting for the dough to rise, you can prepare the pizza sauce (see below)
Preheat oven to 180C (350F), set to Fan.
Once dough has risen, transfer to a floured surface and knead briefly until smooth (approx. 2-3 minutes).
With a rolling pin work dough into circle.
Spread an oven pan with some olive oil and transfer pizza dough on it.
For Pizza Sauce:
In a saucepan heat olive oil on high heat.
Add minced garlic and sauté until golden.
Next add tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, pinch of sugar and seasoning.
Shimmer for approximately 15 minutes or until all liquids are evaporated and the sauce has thickened.
To assemble:
Spread the tomato sauce to the pizza dough, keeping the edges clean.
Add sliced or shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce. (At this point add desired toppings that need to be baked).
Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the edges are crispy and golden.
Remove from the oven, add desired toppings, cut and serve hot or warm.
I'd love to know if you made this recipe. Use #sweetandsaltyfeelings and tag @sweetandsalty_feelings