Pizza

Ingredients:

For the Dough

3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 package of yeast
1 cup warm water, 110 degrees

Method:

Take warm water and add the yeast and leave it for 2-3 minutes till it becomes foamy/ frothy.

If you are not confident of this step then you can also add yeast directly into the dry ingredients. I usually do that.The reason we dissolve yeast in warm water is to test whether the yeast is alive or not. Because if it is not alive, then we have to toss all the ingredients to waste.

Mix flour, salt, sugar, olive oil in a bowl of standing mixer attached with the dough hook. Stir in the yeast to dissolve in the water and add that to the flour mix.

At medium speed mix everything together and stop to scrape if necessary. Mix until everything is well combined and forms dough.

Grease it with some oil.Cover and  Let the dough rest and proof in a warm spot in your kitchen.

Once it has rested for an hour , divide it into 2 or 3 equal parts and shape them into rounds and leave it aside for another 10-15 minutes covered. Once it had rested the second time, take one dough ball at a time and spread a parchment paper on the baking sheet and spread some oil and place the dough ball and start giving it a shape for pizza.  I start by making borders, i.e. by pressing the dough ball with the help of my fingers start spreading it out into round and then press at the edges and with the help of my knuckles start stretching it out as thin as I want. I do not use rolling pin. You can also use some dry flour to while rolling the pizza. Meanwhile, preheat oven at 500 F. Spread the tomato sauce. Lot of times I make my own homemade tomato sauce but on lazy or busy days I do use store bought sauce. There is nothing wrong in doing so.

Add the toppings of your choice, add freshly chopped herbs or dry herbs like oregano powder, rosemary, dry basil, onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper. Place cheese. I like mozzarella and ricotta. Do not add too much of ricotta, or else it will make it more heavy and a little soggy. For toppings we usually use bell peppers, onions, black olives, pineapple, recently I threw in some black seedless grapes also, jalapenos to give some kick. Finally, we never make pizza without fresh basil.  I would suggest that never make your pizza heavy by adding lots of toppings. Keep it simple and crusty. Less is better in this case. You can also add broccoli, Brussel sprouts, corn, cottage cheese cubes – paneer.

Bake the pizza in a preheated oven at 450 F to 500 F. But, beware of your fire alarm. The only thing that intimidates me is the fire alarm in pizza making. If you cook your pizza at high temperature it really comes out perfect in just under 10 minutes with such a good crust.