How to make pizza at home

Source :Meghna Mukherjee::TOI : Jan 30, 2012, 02.08PM IST


Here's how you can make pizza at home 

Ingredients: 

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast 

1 ½ cups warm water 

4 cups bread flour 

1 ½ tsp salt 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 

1 tbsp sugar, extra flour and extra olive oil 

Method: Pour warm water in a large mixing bowl and add sugar and dissolve it. Dissolve the yeast by stirring continuously after addition. Allow the mixture to settle down for 10 minutes or extra so that the yeast becomes active. Add the yeast and olive oil when the mixture becomes foamy. Add 3 cups of flour to the mixture one by one and whisk in until dissolved completely. Make sure the mixture is completely smooth. Use your hands to combine the dough until all of the dry flour has moistened into mass. 

When the flour has absorbed all of the moisture and congealed into a firm mass. Remove from the bowl to a floured tabletop to knead it. Fold it half again and push it into itself again and again for about 10-12 minutes. 

After kneading, coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil. After that, place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. 

Pan the pizza. Ladle about 7 to 8 oz. of pizza sauce into the middle, bottom of the dough shell.Spread the sauce evenly over the surface of the dough sheet. Spoon the sauce out to the edge of the dough sheet. Leave a small margin on the outer-side of the dough sheet, which allows the crust to rise and crisp more quickly than the covered dough; creating the classic, puffed up edge of the pizza. Now create a layer of the shredded cheese over the sauce. Shred about two cups of cheese. Arrange your toppings over this layer of cheese.