“There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.”
― Thomas Wolfe
― Thomas Wolfe
I agree completely to this quote. Off late I have realized that my mother if she has ever succeeded in expressing her love to us her children, it has been through her experiments with cooking. All those sleepless nights she spent after her night shifts making gulab jamuns and cakes- it all translates this quote above to me. When it came to words she was never articulate but with food she did wonders and somewhere deep within I believe she did this for herself too. Cooking is healing, I know it because I do it for the same reason today. I would not mind if someone said I was ugly but I definitely would cry if they say my food sucks :) that's me. And who knows me better with my flaws than my hubby. So this was my way of saying thanks to him and we had a gala time with pizzas last weekend.
I still remember the first pizza my mom made. I was in the 6th grade and we all were given tasks to do like deseeding olives, chopping capsicums and mushrooms. Pizza was not popular then and we weren't dying to have a piece. In fact, I was even bored with long list of chores mom gave us to help her with the base, sauce and toppings. I remember the mini pizzas that came out first from the oven and how excited we were of our hard work. Mom made it a point to freeze pizza base thereafter to make us pizzas often. Her principle was straight whatever we demanded from a fast food joint was experimented home and made for us so that we would not eat processed food. So I belonged to the group of teenagers who never got to grab a slice of pizza with friends. And mom's habit got into us so perfectly that we hated going to any food joints later in life. I realise it more these days when I dissuade my hubby from eating out. Something else mom passed onto me is her critical eye for details. She never was satisfied with anything she ate outside and always made it a point to analyse, review the food served and never to forget tally it with her home economics skills. So according to her anything made home was richer, tastier and economical.
Pizzas and cakes are also activities devoted for family time back home and so when I have to make them alone these days it makes me sad.But nevertheless, it's something I love doing for my hubby dear and so I zapped out of my nostalgic zone and created this. There's a lot more that I want to write about Italian food, my fondness for their gluttony and the piazzas (not pizza), fountains and gelatos but maybe I will reserve it for a future post on something Italian I make.
Warm water - 1 1/2 cups
Dry yeast- 2 1/4 tsp
All purpose flour- 3 1/2 cup ( Use bread flour if you have access)
Olive Oil- 2 tbsp
Salt- 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Direction
Sieve the flour and salt, yeast and sugar to the flour. Dissolve yeast in warm water and set is aside for 5 minutes so that the yeast starts working. Add yeast to the flour and roll the dough into a ball.
Add the olive oil and knead for 5 minutes. If you have an electric mixer or kitchen aid you can knead the dough in it, but I did it with my hands. Oil the bowl you plan to use for storing the dough. Place the kneaded dough in the bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap for 1 1/2 hrs or even more till the dough rises. If you can't find a warm place you can heat your microwave oven and let it cool a bit and then keep your bowl in the oven.
Ingredients for Pizza Toppings
Pizza sauce- 100 ml
Zucchini diced- 1
Mushrooms diced- 200 gm
Onion diced- 2
Chicken Sausages- 8
Paprika- 1 tsp
Garlic powder- 1 tsp
Ketchup- 4 tbsp
Mozzarella- 100 gm
Oregano- 1 tsp
Directions
Saute the mushrooms, I like it that way. Marinate the sliced sausages with paprika and garlic powder and fry them. I wanted spicy sausages but could not find any and the ones I chose tasted bland and that's how I ended up marinating and fry these. In a 9 inch pizza pan add few drops of oil and preheat the oven. Roll the dough to the size of your pan and let it stay for 5 minutes before you transfer it to your pan. Smear the base with pizza sauce. I always prefer my homemade sauce and have it in store, if you don't have the time and energy go for ready made pizza sauce.
Now moving to the toppings always remember to keep it light, else the base wont be able to hold the toppings. It is not necessary to finish all your toppings just because your prepared them. I always make sandwiches with the leftovers. Start with the mushrooms and onion followed by zucchini and finally with sausages. I love a dash of ketchup, sprinkle of oregano and top up with grated mozzarella and that's how I go about with the toppings.
Bake the pizza at 180 degrees for 20 minutes and you will have a wonderful delight. This dough makes 2 pizzas so double the quantity if you want to make more. It's the softest base I ever made and quite easy and reliable too. I made thin crusts and I hope to procure bread flour because I want crunchy crusts next time. Otherwise we had a wonderful time with the pizza. And I loved the flavour zucchini brought into this dish. Zucchini is not something we buy frequently and is not easy to find in stores. But I had these vague memories of munching on pizzas with zucchini in Italy and so I went ahead with it and I must say I was not disappointed. Bon-appetite folks !
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