A Mouth-Watering Perfection

The perfect meal, tastes incredible and you simply can’t go wrong with it! Also is sometimes stated to be better than a relationship;)

PIZZA 

I mean, I know you probably would have guessed it was a blog about pizza from the header picture but hey, I  had to add a small extra hint just for the sake of it.

 This week is Italian week here in Qatar and what better way to celebrate it except with one of the world’s simplest and most popular dish that originated from there! a dish that comes in different forms, compositions, toppings, seasonings, and methods of preparation. ah, pizza…

What is your favorite type of pizza?

I personally love all forms and shapes of pizza but if I had to choose one it will definitely be the old classic cheese pizza just because the flavor of the pizza dough makes a statement and isn’t covered by the different toppings flavor.

Even though my favorite pizza is cheese pizza, on this blog we are used to breaking away from the classics and so adding a twist to a basic pizza is a norm!

That is why we will be making a Pesto Caprese Pizza and a Vegalicious Pizza…

Note: Both pizzas are suitable for vegetarians!

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Ingredients:

For the dough –

DRY ingredients –

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour.
• 1 tablespoon of yeast
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1&1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients –

• 1/4 cup of yogurt
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil

For the Pesto & Caprese Pizza-

• 1/2 a cup of my homemade Pesto sauce – For the recipe Homemade Pesto Sauce
• 1 (200g) fresh mozzarella cheese  – chopped roughly
• 1 sliced tomato – circular slices
• 1 handful of fresh mints

For the Vegalicious pizza-

• 1 cooked eggplant – I peel the eggplant and slice it then drizzle a little bit of olive oil on it and bake it for 30 minutes.
• 1/2 cup of olives
• 1 sliced yellow pepper
• 1 sliced green pepper
• 4 sliced  mushrooms
• 1 shredded carrot
• 1 &1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 3 tablespoons of sriracha sauce
• 3 teaspoons of oregano
• 3 teaspoons of powdered basil
• 2 teaspoons of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper

 

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Method:

1. prepare the dough by mixing the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients together in a different bowl, then using a sieve, sift the dry ingredients on to the wet and mix well. Leave for one-three hours to ferment.
2. Grease the baking tray and start spreading the dough. Ensure it is spread evenly. For a thin crust, the thickness shouldn’t exceed 1/4 inch and should be placed in the oven maximum 10 minutes after being spread to avoid it rising.
3. For the Pesto Caprese pizza- spread the pesto sauce evenly on top of the dough then add the slices of tomato, the pieces of mozzarella cheese and some chopped mints on top. Bake for 20 minutes @ 250*c or until mozzarella cheese melts.
4. For the Vegilicous pizza – start by preparing the pizza sauce, add the garlic, sriracha sauce, basil, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper to the tomato sauce mix well then spread it evenly on top of the pizza dough add your veggie ( you can change up the vegetables to suit your preferences) and finally add the shredded mozeralla cheese. Bake for 20 minutes @ 250 *c or until the mozzarella cheese turns goldish.

 

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You can try out different toppings and different sauces on your pizzas, for example, try adding fruits, nuts or even some crushed chips (crisps) as a cheese pizza topping. As always I advise you to be creative with your cooking and always thrive to try new combinations!

Crave the dish until next time…