Friday, October 28, 2011

30-minutes Thin Crust Pizza

I got this recipe while chancing upon the 'Jamie's 30-minute meal" programme by Jamie Oliver.

Without thinking that there just might be a website listing all the recipes shown on the programme, I found myself furiously scribbling away on a small notepad while Jamie were busy alternating between the different dishes in his attempt to whip up one pizza and four salads within 30 minutes.

Up till having this recipe, I always found it tedious to make a pizza dough from scratch. Even though with the amount of time spent, it doesn’t always guaranteed me a decent pizza dough albeit an edible one. It would either be too thick, too dry or simply too hard.

I made some modifications to the recipe for simplicity sake and while it doesn’t yield the restaurant type pizza dough, it is nevertheless, a decent one.

30-minutes Thin Crust Pizza

Ingredients (pizza dough):
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt
drizzle of olive oil

Ingredients (tomato spread):
1 small can of tomato paste
a few basil leaves - finely chopped
drizzle of olive oil

Ingredients (toppings):
1 piece of mozarella cheese
finely grated parmesan cheese
few slices of ham (optional)
diced pineapples (optional)
slices of button mushrooms
drizzle of olive oil


Method:
(1) Pour all the ingredients for the pizza dough into a mixer and mix till a dough forms. If necessary, add more flour.
(2) Sprinkle some flour on a table top
(3) With a rolling pin (or a glass bottle), roll the dough to the desired thickness
(4) Drizzle some olive oil in a flat pan over low heat
(5) Mix the ingredients of the tomato spread in a bowl
(6) Transfer the flat pizza dough onto the pan
(7) Spread the tomato paste evenly on the pizza dough
(8) Add the toppings according to your preference before drizzling some olive oil on top
(9) Check that the underside of the pizza dough is slightly browned
(10) Transfer the pan into a pre-heated oven at ~200°C and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes or till the pizza dough browned at the edges


Verdict:
(+) Only simplest of ingredients required!
(+) Pizza can be ready in about 30 minutes! Tried and tested!

(=) Short preparation, fast cooking time and yet decent tasting pizza! Two thumbs up!