Pizza

About Pizza:

Pizza: This is a plain cheese Pizza recipe, topped with fresh cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese slices. Preparing the perfect dough at home by following a few simple easy steps is so much fun. Perfect dough with the fresh toppings is the best you can serve to your little ones and your family. Topping up the pizza with little sweet cherry tomatoes makes this pizza feels a little juicy and looks beautiful.

As most of us know that Pizza is an Italian dish, originated from Italy consisting of a flattened base bread topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven. It is also called pizzeria sometimes. Pizza with cherry tomatoes and cheese is perfect for any occasion and completely vegetarian recipe. Plain cheese pizza refers usually with just plain cheese. Here I am using little extra tomatoes to it.

Taste and texture:

Pizza with cherry tomatoes and cheese feels little extra juicy as of adding up extra tomatoes on top which also tastes slightly sweeter. The bread is soft and chewy as I personally like.

Pizza Toppings:

I choose to add cheese slices instead of shredded ones because of these it tastes fresher and yummy according to me.

Cherry tomatoes for toppings are a great way to decorate and have some extra veggie bites along with cheese pizza.

Pizza ingredients used to make the dough:

Ingredients we need to make the perfect pizza dough are as follows:

• Lukewarm water- 1 cup and 50 ml (the water must be easy to touch basically room temperature)
• Salt- 1 teaspoon
• Sugar- 1 tablespoon
• Active dry yeast- 1/4 teaspoon
• Olive oil or regular oil (e.g canola)- 2 tablespoon
• Plain Flour or self rinsing flour i.e maida- 3 Cups and little extra flour for kneading purpose.

Directions to make perfect pizza dough:

Preparing the Yeast.

Into a bowl take 1 cup and 50 ml of lukewarm water i.e water must be slightly warm easy to put your fingertips should feel normal to touch. ( or Room temperature). Yeast is the primary leavening agent in the dough, which means it’s what causes the pizza dough to rise. The best pizza dough recipes produce a dough that rises quickly, making for an airy and bubbly crust.

Then add Salt 1 teaspoon, Sugar 1 tablespoon and stir it. Add 1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast into it and stir gently and cover and let it stay for 10 minutes to let the yeast tunes frothy. Uncover the mixture after 10 minutes and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil or regular oil and mix.

Take plain flour 3 cups. Add the yeast mixture gradually into the flour and combine to mix and knead to make a smooth soft dough by hand or a machine. Knead it at least for 10 to 15 minutes or so. Make sure to knead it well. Use some dry flour and oil into your palm during the kneading process to make it easy and less sticky. Also please note: Do not use too much dry flour instead use oil to make it less sticky and to keep the dough stretchy and soft. When done kneading fold the dough from the backside as shown in the video. Basically tuck it from the sides to the backside making a ball-shaped dough that looks bulged up.

Transfer the dough into a greased bowl. Grease the bowl nice with olive oil or regular oil and gently place the dough. Grease the dough from the top as well. Cover the bowl with food plastic wrapper and allow sufficient time to rise. I usually keep it for 3 to 5 hours or unless I see it has risen really nice or I also refrigerate overnight for the best result.

Once taken out from the refrigerator you will notice the dough has risen in volume. See the close image below.

Pushing the pizza dough down:

Now, this is so much fun doing. Pushing the fermented and puffed up dough down with hand and flatten it over a baking tray directly or you may roll it first before placing onto the tray.

Stretching and rolling the pizza dough:

Take it out and spread the pizza dough onto a baking tray over a parchment paper. Try to keep the corners a little thicker so as to make a kind of boundary wall all around for holding the sauce.

Toppings:

Pour homemade fresh pizza sauce all over it. Top it with sliced fresh mozzarella cheese or you may also choose to put shredded cheese on it. Place some sweet cherry tomatoes all over for juicy and cheesy feeling on every single bite you take and also it looks beautiful. Finally, sprinkle some Oregano leaves and Italian herbs. And now it’s ready to be baked.

Baking:

Bake it for 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit on the middle rack. Check-in between. Take it out and cut into slices and serve hot. Visit www.sonalichoudhury.com for more details and find more recipes.

Serving tips:

Once done with baking get these out hot from the oven. Immediately slice these into triangular pieces and serve hot. Sprinkle some chilly flakes or pepper if you crave for spices.

Why pizza dough is folded?

During the fermentation stage, the pizza dough is being folded in order to strengthen the bonding of the gluten protein threads that hold the dough together and to trap the carbon dioxide created by the yeat. Referal Fornobravo.com

Why warm water used for the yeast?

Because the warm water dissolves the food which is best suited for the yeast to work actively. Food like sugar, salt, and flour, when mixed with warm water, dissolves better and makes the environment-friendly for the yeast which helps support for fermentation. In short: Somehow the environment is best suited for the dormant packed “Yeast” to wake up from their static state and get active quicker.

Total time consumed to prepare:

Note: For Pizza sauce: If you plan to prepare fresh sauce at home you need 40 minutes. You may choose to cook it parallel or make it before you plan to prepare pizza.

How does yeast work?

Yeast is essentially part of the fungus family, and the way it works is actually quite fascinating. Yeast creates carbon dioxide by feeding on fermentable sugars within the dough’s ingredients. Carbon dioxide creates air pockets in the dough, and during the baking process, the heat kills the yeast. This leaves the air pockets trapped in the dough, which creates an airy, fluffy crust. When you see a pizza dough recipe that calls for sugar, it’s because added sugar can help the yeast’s feeding process. Whether or not this extra step is necessary is arguable, but in my experience, I’ve made plenty of batches of great dough without sugar.

For this recipe, I have used Active dry Yeast which I often use for making bread as well. It turns out really well and I enjoy baking them.

Active Dry Yeast: Active dry yeast is yeast that has been dried out so that it’s shelf-stable. Typically this yeast needs to be dissolved in water before it’s added to a recipe. Active dry yeast is one of the more popular types of yeasts because it’s easy to use, convenient, and is easily available in the stores and supermarkets.

Is this dough perfect?

My answer to this question is a big “Yes” I must say this is a perfect dough that could be made easily at home with the least effort. The dough is no sticky, fluffy, soft and tastes perfect once baked. The measurement of water, sugar, and oil needed is perfect to mix into the flour and giving sufficient time to the yeast to work properly by refrigerating.

How to fix sticky dough?

If in case your dough becomes little sticky or wet then I must recommend adding some dry flour and mixing up until it becomes no-sticky and later adding or applying little oil all around your dough and refrigerate it overnight for the yeast to work and let the dough rise in volume. This process takes a little time but it turns out great. I personally enjoy this part of making and baking my own personal pizza. Note: You must feel the dough smooth and soft but not sticky for sure.

Baking the pizza:

For baking make sure to preheat the oven before putting your pizza inside the oven. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit before baking the pizza.

Choose to place a parchment paper onto the tray. Or spray some oil before pacing your pizza. I tried using parchment paper because to avoid any chances of sticking and it turned out great I must say. The opposite side of the bread is very well baked and perfect. As you can see in the video I have not used any extra dry flour to place the pizza bread onto the parchment paper. Also, I have used a lot of homemade pizza sauce to my pizza as a topping and it did not stick at all.

Nutritional fact:

Reference: https://g.co/kgs/bxQ9LW

Amount Per 100 grams1 slice (107 g)1 pizza (853 g)1 slice (107 g)

Calories 285

% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10 g	15%
Saturated fat 4.8 g	24%
Polyunsaturated fat 1.8 g
Monounsaturated fat 2.8 g
Trans fat 0.3 g
Cholesterol 18 mg	6%
Sodium 640 mg	26%
Potassium 184 mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 36 g	12%
Dietary fiber 2.5 g	10%
Sugar 3.8 g
Protein 12 g	24%

Vitamin A	7%	Vitamin C	2%
Calcium	20%	Iron	15%
Vitamin D	0%	Vitamin B-6	5%
Cobalamin	6%	Magnesium	6%

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Find more recipes at https://sonalichoudhury.com/blog/category/food/

Watch the full video for the recipe: