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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pizza Tomato Sauce

This is the recipe for the tomato sauce used for making pizza.

Ingredients

1 medium onion
2 cups canned tomato pieces
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoon butter
3 cloves of garlic
pepper powder as per taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt for taste

Method
Chop the onion and garlic finely. Take butter in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute for 8-10 minutes on medium flame till the onion and garlic are well cooked the raw smell is not present. The onion should not burn or stick to the pan. Add canned tomatoes, oregano and the tomato paste. Cook for 20 minutes. Add salt, sugar and pepper as per taste. Cool the sauce before use.

Pizza Dough

Recently one of my friend taught me how to make basic pizza dough at home. It is very relaxing to come back home from work knowing that the pizza dough waiting in the fridge to be topped with vegetables and sauce and baked in a matter of 10 minutes. This pizza dough can be made in advance and stored in the freezer. I cut the dough into sections sufficient to make single pizza and then store the pieces in separate ziplock bags. When ever I plan to make a pizza, I take the ziplock bag from the freezer a day in advance and store it in the refrigerator, so that it de-freezes and can be then used to make a pizza.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup maida or all purpose flour (if you are not using whole wheat flour, use 2 cups all purpose flour)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour or chappati atta
1 packet instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon oil (best if olive oil is used)

Method
Take a cup of warm water and mix in sugar, oil and salt in it. Add the yeast powder and mix well. Add the flours and make a loose dough. Knead it well for around 10-15 minutes. The dough should not be sticky nor too hard. If the dough is too dry, more water can be added while kneading it. If th dough is too wet, add some more flour to it.
Place it in a bowl and cover it with a wet cloth and keep it in a warm place for around 40 minutes. The dough will rise to double its original size. Knead the dough again for 10 minutes. This dough can be used instantly or kept in a freezer. Keep it in the refrigerator or at room temperature to de-freeze it. The dough should be at normal temparature before using it. Use this to make any kind of pizza.