My boys LOVE pizza, I love pizza. Our family loves pizza. We eat pizza a lot.
After a visit to my sister in Australia, she showed me how easy it was to make homemade pizzas. She used a recipe out of one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks. The kids loved it.
So, as any mother of pizza-loving kids would do, I tried the recipe at home. My dough-making fears came true when the dough didn’t rise in an hour like it said it would. Meh. I covered the dough and popped it in the corner, too disheartened to toss it in the bin straight away. I’m not sure if there is something such as long-acting yeast but clearly I had that version, because 24 hours later I had what I thought was dough for at least 100 pizzas. So we had a lot of pizza that night. And that week. I rolled, topped and baked as many pizzas as we could eat. But, despite the wonderful dough, I was naturally reluctant to make it again because that would mean when we felt like pizza, I would have to have envisaged that craving 24 hours prior, so the dough would be ready in time. Uh-Uh.
And then I also discovered a homemade pizza base recipe SECRET. Maybe it is not such a secret and I am the only one who doesn’t know this but, I tried this and it was amazing – the secret to a good base is to bake it for 3-4 minutes at 220C before adding your toppings. Just a little blitz in the oven, gives the base a chance to cook and get crispy before adding the toppings. I noticed that when I got pre-made bases from a local pizza outlet, they seemed slightly hard/crispy yet not browned. I then realised that they had been slightly cooked which de-activates the yeast and the bases remain at that thickness or thinness. We often just have Margherita pizzas so the time needed for the base to cook through is often longer than the time needed for the cheese to melt and brown – so this little trick has made a big difference to pizza yumminess. This may not apply if you have a pizza oven or ceramic stone, but for the oven, it is GREATO!!!
Homemade pizzas are the best. We went out for dinner a few weeks ago and the kids wanted pizzas (surprise surprise) and when the pizzas arrived, I overheard my eldest complaining to my hubby that they didn’t taste like “mom’s pizza”. I was secretly like, YASSSSSSS!!
Just a little note on tomato puree for the pizza base – you get purees and you get purees. My favourite is one from Woolworths – It comes in a large glass bottle and is sweeter that other purees that I have tried, which can be bitter / tart. If you can’t get the Woolworths one, look for one that says “Italian” – they just seem a little better for pizzas.
My favourite tomato puree!!
How juicy and YUMMY does this pizza look??
Throw some Basil on the pizza for a dash of green and extra flavour.
The pizza dough itself!! This recipe makes 2 pizza bases.
And if you love pizza and cheese and tomato and keen for another easy dinner for your kids or a snack for a party, you have to try these Cheese & Sundried Tomato Pinwheels. Delish!!
Easy Thin-Base Pizza Crust Recipe
- Total Time: 22 mins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon active yeast powder
- 1 1/2 cups flour (self-raising or all-purpose)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Tomato Puree
- Cheddar Cheese
- Mozzarella Cheese
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the water, sugar and yeast. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes
- Add the flour and salt to the yeast mixture and mix together using your hands until the dough forms a silky ball of dough. Knead the dough with your hands a minute and add a little more water if the dough is too dry or a little more flour if the dough is too sticky – add 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Allow the dough to sit for 5 minutes and then roll it out onto a floured work surface and roll it as thin as possible.
- Fold the dough in half and then half again and transfer it quickly to the baking try and unfold again.
- Bake for 3 minutes at 220°C
- Take the base out the oven and then add the tomato puree and then the toppings and bake for 5-7 minutes until the cheese has melted and beautifully browned.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 7 mins
