Thin Crust Pizza on the fly

So who's up for another seemingly effortless homemade meal? Seemingly effortless, as in more effort than just picking up the phone, but definitely less effort than cooking a 3-course meal. But feeding a family has made me more aware of what goes into my food, and I realise, I like knowing what goes into my food. And my kids love pizza and I used to buy frozen cheese Dr Oetker ones and put my own toppings, but once I read the ingredients and realised the number of unpronounceable chemicals they have in it, I decided to switch to ordering pizza only from Italian restaurants. Except those were way more expensive, though delicious. We still order pizza, but ever since coming across this recipe for pizza crust, I've been making more of my own. And no one is complaining either!

INGREDIENTS

For the pizza dough. (taken from Italian Basics by Schinharl and Dickhaut)

This makes enough for  4 small dinner plate-sized pizzas or 2 big ones. It does take a little planning, but if like me, you plan lunch while eating breakfast, you can get right to it after cleaning the capuccino cup. I usually make the dough after breakfast (takes all of 7 minutes. Really! I timed it!), then let it rise and occasionally punch it down, until it is time to assemble the pizza (about 2 hours. But really, 2 hours is just its 'alone time', while you leave it alone and get along with your ever-so-busy life so it doesn't count.)

• 300g plain flour
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cube or 21 g of wet yeast (or its dry instant equivalent)
• 150ml warm water (more or less)
• Sprinkling of sea salt 

This is how we do it :

(It's so easy! No flipping skills needed!)

Either using your counter or in a large bowl, add in the flour, salt, olive oil, and then crumble in the fresh wet yeast or tip in the dried yeast from its packaging. Add the water in a slow stream bit by bit and knead the flour into a dough, until if forms a small ball. Don't worry if it's too wet, just add in more flour. It should no longer be sticking to your fingers. Then leave it in the bowl, cover it with a wet cloth, and leave it in a warm area. My warm area was on the balcony in the sun. I checked it every half an hour coz it thrills me to no end to see the pizza dough double in its size, and then flatten, coz I've just punched all the air out of it.  Hehehe :p

When you are ready to cook the pizza, just roll out the dough, spread the marinara sauce on it, top with your favourite toppings and bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes in an 180 degree Celsius oven. Oven times may vary though according to your oven and crispiness preference. We like our with a just-brown crust and gooey cheese.

Pizza sauce :

The easiest way is to open a jar of marinara and spread it on top of the pizza.

The second easiest way is to use my recipe for all-in-one-pot marinara sauce which is equally delicious, plus you would know what's in it.

All-in-one-pot delicious marinara sauce for everything.

• A can of peeled tomatoes
• Half a can of water (or chicken or vegetable broth if you like)
• A clove or more of garlic, pressed and finely chopped
• A chopped onion
• A tablespoon of butter
• A tablespoon of olive oil
• A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• A tablespoon of sugar
• A pinch of salt
• A dash of pepper
• A sprinkling of dried Italian herbs or just simply dried Basil and/or dried Oregano 
• Optional - grated parmesan and creme fraiche (or philly cream cheese if that's what's in your fridge)

This is how we do it :

Take a pot. Put everything in it (except the last 2 optional ingredients - they go in towards the end.) Turn on heat. Cover. Stir occasionally. 30 minutes later - the end. Adjust for seasonings if needed. Thick, rich, homemade marinara sauce for pasta, pizza, lasagne,  meatball sandwich sauce etc. Easy peasy!

Pizza toppings :

Of course you top it with whatever you want but these are our favourites :

Hawaiian Pizza

• A few slices of turkey mortadella, torn.
• A few pineapple chunks straight out of the tin.
• Fresh Mozarella cheese. Now if you do use fresh mozarella, my tip is to squeeze the water out of them to make sure the pizza does not come out watery and soggy which was what happened to me once when I made Margherita Pizza with only tomatoes (which was watery) and unsqueezed mozarella cheese (also watery)
• Or whatever melty cheese you fancy - Gouda or Cheddar works well too. But don't tell the Italians when you are using Dutch or English cheese ok?

After rolling out the dough, I top it with the sauce, turkey and pineapples and put it straight into the oven. After about 8 minutes, I check the crust and when I see it turning brown, I take the half-baked pizza out and put the cheese on top. This way, I still get gooey melty cheese without undercooking the crust.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

This time, I added an assortment of mushrooms, capsicum, onions and pineapple chunks. The important thing to remember is to cut them thinly and about the same size. And do not add to much topping or the pizza will get soggy.

Other than those, I also top the pizza crust with leftovers like chicken, salmon, stir-fried vegetables and whatever can else that will taste good with cheese. Having said that, you can also spread the cooked pizza crust with nutella and berries for a crunchy chocolatey dessert! :-) Have pizza, will eat! 

Buon Appetito!