Homemade Pizza

I made this Hawaiian Pizza a couple of days back for lunch. As it was the first time I attempted to make a pizza from scratch, I thought a Hawaiian Pizza would be just simple enough for me to handle. In fact, my kids very much prefer Hawaiian Pizza over other toppings. I used the most basic ingredients...grated cheese, canned pineapples and some ham. As for the tomato sauce, I used some leftover store-bought pasta sauce. I wasn't really sure whether the pizza would turn out edible, so I actually had a plan B in mind...ie to bring the kids to the McDonald's if all else failed.

The pizza dough was rather easy to work with as compared to some other bread doughs. There were only basic ingredients such as flour, salt, water, oil and yeast. The dough was not sticky at all, so it was a breeze kneading it. I followed the instructions and knead the dough for about 10 mins by hand. The dough rise beautifully within an hour's time, thanks to the good sunny weather on that morning :)


It was only after reading some pizza-making recipes that I learned that the mozzarella cheese has to be added in two layers...that is, after spreading the pizza sauce over the dough, a layer of cheese has to be added, followed by the toppings, before covering the entire surface with another layer of cheese again. I always thought that the cheese is added only on the top most layer.


Since the recipe is meant for a 12in pizza pan, I knew that I would have extra dough left as my biggest tray is about 10in. So I took out some dough (without even weighing it!) and made 3 mini-pizza (as I was left with the last 3 paper cases).

The pizza took about 25mins to bake, and it turned out that I didn't add enough sauce and definitely not enough cheese! You see, the tool that I used to grate the cheese, is actually not suitable...the grated cheese were too thin...as compared to those ready-grated ones. Hence, the pizza was not cheesy enough :(



Like I have always mentioned, I am blessed with 2 kids who are not very fussy with food...they usually eat whatever I cook for them. I didn't have to execute plan B at all and they ate the pizza with real gusto! I think they were probably very hungry after school, and my elder boy thought that the pizza tasted better than those he had eaten from pizza outlets, lolz! I will certainly make this again during the school holidays, and they will get to make and design their own personal pizza :)

I have included the pizza dough recipe here, for those who are interested to give it a try. Do take note that the recipe will yield a thick crust, similar to pan-pizza. If you are a fan for thin crust, then this is not for you ;)


Ingredients:
(make one 12in pizza dough)

340g (2 3/4 cup) bread flour
2 teaspoons fast acting dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

200ml lukewarm water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I used pure olive oil)

Method:

1. Use a 30cm (12in) round pizza tray. Grease the tray. (I used a baking tray, lined with parchment paper).
2. Mix flour, salt and yeast in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water and olive oil. Mix with hand to form a soft dough. If needed, add a little more water.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 ~ 1.5hrs until double in size.
4. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it down to release the air. Give it a few gently kneading. Roll or press out to a round to fit the pizza tray, place dough on tray.
5. Spread pizza sauce over the pizza base to within 1 cm (0.5 inch) of the edge. Arrange a layer of grated cheese, followed by preferred toppings. Sprinkle the top all over with grated cheese.
6. Leave the pizza in a warm place for about 15mins. Preheat oven to 220degC (425 degF)
7. Bake pizza for 20~25mins or until the crust has risen and is golden and the cheese has melted. Serve warm.

Recipe source: adapted from Baking with Love (Readers Digest)