Pizza from scratch

I love pizzas. I know there is going to be so much gluten sticking to my intestines and the grease is only going to block my arteries sooner, but I just love ’em! On my day off from work today, I decided to make myself a pizza from scratch. I love making my food from scratch. It gives me so much satisfaction.

Right from the base, to the sauce to finally assembling the pizza, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I did not follow any recipe, just made it on the whim.

Dough for the base:
2 tbsp active dry yeast
A pinch of sugar to activate the yeast
300g all purpose flour (I used 200g refined flour and 100g whole wheat, just to see how it turns out. I suggest you only at all purpose flour, since the base made with whole wheat flour is rather dense.)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt
Water

Mix the yeast with warm water and sugar and wait till it’s frothy. Combine all the ingredients to make a pliable ball of dough. Make sure to limit the salt, as it will only kill the yeast and restrict the dough from rising. Let the dough rise for about an hour, till it is double in volume. This makes about 2 medium crusted 9 inch pizzas or 3 thin.

Sauce:
1 onion, grated
3 cloves of garlic, minced
5 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and pureed
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and sugar to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Saute the onions and garlic. Add the dried basil, salt, sugar and the peed tomatoes. Add some water, bring to a boil and then let it simmer till it has reduced to a thick sauce.

Toppings:
Whatever you like!
I used marinated cubes of paneer (Mrs Dash, olive oil, red chilli powder), jalepenos, olives and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Bake it in a preheated oven at 250°C for about 7 minutes and enjoy the sight of the dough rise and the cheese bubble!