Veggie Pizza

Veggie Pizza

Ingredients 

1. For The Dough

A. All Purpose Flour 31/2 cups

B. Active Dry Yeast 21/4 tsp

C. Water 1 cup plus 51/2 tbsp

D. Salt 3/4 tsp

E. Sugar 1 tbsp

F. Olive Oil 3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp 

G. Corn meal for dusting 

2. For The Toppings

A. Veggies Of Your Choice( I added pineapple chunks, mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers & jalapeños)

B. Olive Oil for brushing 

C. Pizza Sauce 

D. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Method Of Preparation 

1. In a bowl, add sugar & yeast. To it, add lukewarm water. Give it a stir & then leave it aside in a warm place, preferably, your microwave for about 10 minutes for proofing the yeast. 

2. When you take it out of the oven after 10 minutes, the yeast should have frothed. If you don't see any froth & if the yeast isn't dissolved in the water, then you will have to discard it & start all over again. 

3. While the yeast is proofing, you may add flour, salt & oil into a large bowl. Once you take the yeast mixture out of the oven, add it to the flour & mix everything together & form a dough.

4. Put this dough on ur countertop & knead it really well for 15 minutes. You know your dough is ready when you poke it with your finger & it bounces back. If it doesn't, then keep kneading for sometime more. Shape the dough into a smooth ball without any cracks.

5. Oil the sides of a large bowl & also oil the dough a little & place the dough into it & wrap it up tight with a cling wrap & put it in a warm environment, preferable your microwave. 

6. Let the dough remain there for 11/2 - 2 hours. When you take it out, you will see that the dough has doubled or tripled in size.

7. Punch the dough down to release the air in it. 

8. Shape the dough into a log & using a pizza cutter or a knife, cut the dough into two parts. I made a small pizza & an extra large pizza. You can cut it into two equal halves if you wish to.

9. Again shape each half into a smooth ball & cover it & let it rise for another 30 minutes in your microwave oven or any warm place.

10. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 475 F

11. Dust the pizza peel with corn meal.

12. Take the dough balls out of the oven & punch down the air, if there is any & make the surface of the ball is smooth. Coat both the sides of the balls with corn meal & then start flattening out the pizza. There should not be any cracks on the pizza base.

13. Using your hand, flatten & stretch the dough till you get a round pizza. Do not flatten it too thin. Let the base be a little thick. Using  your hand to flatten the dough makes the base of the pizza perfect.

14. Using your hand, raise the edges a little to create a rim around the edges of the pizza. 

15. Before you spread the pizza sauce on the base, using a pastry brush, apply oil. This prevents the center of the pizza from becoming soggy when you add the cheese & the veggies.( I realized that I forgot to apply oil only when I dropped a teaspoon of sauce on the base, so just ignore the sauce on it :-) ).

16. Using your fingers or a fork, make dents on the base of the pizza. This is done to prevent bubbling. Now let the pizza rest for 10 minutes before you add the sauce. 

17. After 10 minutes, apply the pizza sauce. Spread some cheese on it.

18. Then add the veggies on it. When you add the veggies just press them a little into the base so that they don't come out when you slice the pizza.

19. Top it with more cheese. 

20. Slide the pizza from the pizza peel onto the crisper & place it in the middle rack of the oven & bake for 12 minutes. You need to bake till the crust starts turning brown. My oven took 12 minutes to get it done. Each oven differs so keep an eye.

21. After the 12th minute, I put the pizza on the top rack of the oven & changed the oven mode to 'Broil' & broiled it for almost a minute with the door(of the oven) ajar, till the cheese got browned here & there. You really need to be really careful not to burn the pizza. 

22. Take it out when done & sprinkle red chilli flakes & using a pizza cutter, slice the pizza & serve hot.

Notes

1. Once you cut the dough into two halves, if you do not wish to use it up right away, you may oil the dough & wrap one half in a cling wrap & pop it in the freezer. It stays good for a month. You need to thaw it well before you use it to make the pizza. 

How To Thaw Your Pizza Dough

Take it out from the freezer & leave it in the refrigerator overnight & then the next day, leave it on your countertop for 30 minutes before baking.

2. Using olive oil definitely gives the pizza a better taste.

3. Use only lukewarm water. Do not use hot water, as it will kill the yeast & then your pizza is definitely not going to turn out good. If at all, you see your yeast hasn't frothed after 10 minutes, please discard it & start again. 

4. Before your put your pizza into the oven, you need to make sure that your oven is really really hot so you need to pre heat it for a good 25-30 minutes. 

5. If you do not have a pizza peel, you can flatten the dough directly on a baking sheet. I used a pizza crisper to bake my pizza. You may use a baking sheet, pizza crisper or a pizza stone to bake the pizza. If your using a pizza stone, make sure to pre heat the stone too. In that case, you need to slide the pizza from the peel onto the stone in the oven.

6. Do not use a rolling pin to flatten your pizza dough. Use your hand to do it. 

7. You really need to knead the dough for a good 15 minutes. Kneading the dough well is the first step to a good pizza. If your using a mixer to knead the dough, then probably 10 minutes of kneading should be enough. 

8. Dusting with corn meal is very important for the base of your pizza to turn out nice & crisp.

9. If you don't know how to smoothen the dough balls without any cracks, it's like this.

            a. You need to pinch the sides of the dough & tuck it to the bottom. Keep doing this a couple of time & then smoothen it out further on your countertop.

10. Please make sure that the cheese comes to room temperature before adding it.