Rustic Pizza

Today for lunch Matt decided to use up some of the dough we had saved in the fridge from the Sesame buns and turned it into this yum veg pizza. Since the dough had already had its first rise, the base was ready to be used. For the sauce, Matt put some olive oil in a pan, sautéed some finely chopped onions and garlic in it. He then added some dried herbs, some tomato puree with salt and pepper and cooked it for a minute and voila! (Usually, we make the sauce from scratch. It means not using the store-bought tomato puree but today we took a short cut. The recipe for the sauce from scratch will follow soon.) For toppings, we used what was lying in the fridge with some cheese. Here are a few images of the steps he followed. Notice the air pockets in the last image. It is because the dough had been sitting in the fridge for two days!

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It was a lunch rustled up in minutes. We brewed some golden tea to sip with it and admired the rains in hills.

Recipe for Rustic Pizza

Makes a medium-sized pizza for two persons

Time taken:

Active time: 30 minutes

Waiting time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Dough made with 1 cup of flour

The recipe for the dough is same as for making pav till step 4. Just adjust the quantities of ingredients by dividing them with three. You can use all purpose flour (maida)/ whole wheat flour (atta) or a mix of both. After the dough has doubled up in volume after step 4, follow the steps provided below. You can also choose to save the dough at this point in an airtight container in the fridge. In fact, artisan pizza chefs recommend slow rise for a flavourful pizza base!

For Pizza Sauce

• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of tomato puree
• 1/2 medium sized onion (half finely chopped)
• 2 big cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

The sauce can be made in advance in kept in fridge. In an airtight container it can last a week.

For Toppings

• 1 cup of frozen sweetcorn (soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes)
• 1/2 medium-sized onion (finely sliced)
• 1 cup of grated mozzarella/ pizza cheese
• few leaves of fresh basil
• 1 green chilly (deseeded and finely sliced)
• Freshly crushed peppercorn for seasoning

You can use any toppings of your choice. For instance plain Margherita Pizza has just the sauce and cheese, onion and pineapple is also nice, olives are another favourite. Indian pizzas often come with tandoori chicken or paneer (Indian cottage cheese). We have tried adding courgette/zuchhini too. It tasted great!

Instructions

1. For the sauce, take olive oil in a frying pan. Saute the finely chopped onions gently, add garlic, add the dried herbs. Let it cook for a couple of seconds for the herbs to release their flavour. Be careful to not burn them. Add tomato puree, salt and pepper. Let it cook through for another minute. Turn it off and let the sauce cool down.
2. Preheat the oven at 220 degree celsius for ten minutes. While the oven is getting ready, roll and stretch the dough from sides to achieve any shape or thickness of your choice. We like thin crust, so Matt rolled it into a 12×9 rectangle with a super thin base (almost see through). Note the thickness in the image below.
3. Spread the sauce on it followed by a light sprinkle of grated cheese. Place the toppings of your choice and put the rest of the cheese. (We put sliced onions and green chillies right in the end on top of the second layer of cheese so they get crispy).
4. Whack it in the oven on the top rack. Turn the dial down to 200 degree celsius. Let it cook for ten minutes.
5. Take it out, sprinkle some black pepper, fresh basil. Cut it into pieces and relish the fresh, hot pizza!