Pizza is such a comfort food. You leave the dough to rise in the morning. Come back after two and a half hour to find out that it has doubled in size. Get sauce, cheese and toppings. Spread everything, leave it for another half an hour and then viola! Your homemade pizza is ready. Make it into smaller ones for teas and parties.

Before baking your perfect pizza, there are a couple of things you need to know.

1. Use new packet/sachet of Instant Yeast. I tried making my first batch with the old one, which was still unopened but lying in the cabinet for over a year. And the yeast was dead, so the dough died eventually so please don’t do it. Go to the market and buy new sachets and then enjoy your investment in both time and monetary values.Keep that yeast in an air tight container, popped into the refrigerator and it’ll work just fine for over an year, ain’t that a great tip. Shireen Anwer taught me that 😀
2. Always spread 2 tbsp of Cheddar Cheese once you spread pizza sauce over your base. This is a must. And then later add as much as you like but this one is necessary.
3. Always grease your pan with oil before putting dough in it.
4. Always cool down your pizza sauce to room temperature before spreading it onto the pizza, never, ever, ever apply it when it’s hot, EVER!
5. Your pizza sauce should be a thick paste, no drop or water should be left in it, because it will eventually make your pizza dough soggy and you don’t want that, right? so please cook the sauce when it is thick and dry.

What you need

The Pizza Dough

All purpose flour——————— 2 cups
Salt————————————- 1/2 tsp
Sugar———————————- 1 tsp
Instant yeast————————- 1 1/2 tsp
Oil————————————– 2 tbsp
Milk powder————————– 2 tbsp
Egg———————————— 1
Lukewarm water——————– as needed (check out how hot is lukewarm)

Pizza Sauce

This pizza sauce will be ready in 15 minutes, God willing. Cool down to room temperature before applying on dough.

Tomatoes—————————– 3 large
Salt————————————- 1/2 tsp
Red chilies powder—————– 1/2 tsp
Soya sauce————————— 1 tbsp
Oregano leaves———————- 1 tbsp
Oil————————————— 2 tbsp
Garlic———————————– 2 cloves, finely chopped
Water———————————– as needed
Tomato ketchup———————- 2 tbsp

Toppings

Cheddar Cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Onions
Bell peppers
Sausages
Chicken chunks k&N
Chicken, beef, mutton, prawns, fish ( boiled, shredded, cooked, tikka whatever )
Pineapples
Corn
Olives

How it’s made

Pizza Sauce

1. Cut a X at the bottom of tomatoes and boil in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. Once 5 minutes are up, get them out of it and into ice cold water. The skin will peel off easily.
3. Cut them into tiny pieces or mash it and set aside.
4. Take oil in your pan, throw in garlic, once it’s light golden, throw in tomatoes and rest of the ingredients.
5. Add water if the tomatoes are still hard and not dissolving.
6. Cook it till it form a paste and not watery at all (The water will spoil your pizza dough, so this is very important to make it as thick, water less as possible).

The Dough

1. Put sifted flour, salt, sugar, egg, yeast, milk powder and oil together in a clean, dry bowl and mix together.
2. Once they are mixed to bread crumbs consistency, add in enough lukewarm water to make it into a soft dough.
3. Smash the dough on the slab for 10 times.
4. Place the dough in a  greased (grease with oil) bowl and apply some oil on the dough surface as well.
5. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap or cellophene bag to air tight and place it somewhere warm, next to stove, but do not move it, just leave it there for two and a  half hours or until it doubles in size. If your yeast is fresh and good then this time is sufficient enough, God willing!
6. After it has doubled, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured slab. Spread it to 1- 11/2 inch thickness.
7. Grease your 10 inch, deep pizza pan with oil, then place this dough in it, be gentle. Cut the excess from the sides of the pan with a knife.
8. Spread cool pizza sauce over it, then put 2 tbsp heaped cheddar cheese over it. Followed by your favorite toppings and then lots and lots of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
9. Bake in a preheated oven (15 minutes before) at 200 C for 20-30 minutes and you’re pizza is ready to get set and be eaten 😀