Pizza - The Healthy Way

My daughter's love for pizzas is unmatched. If she can,she will eat, live and breathe them ! It goes without saying that i am a huge fan too !! 
While i have made pizzas from all purpose flour earlier,I wanted to try a pizza made purely from wheat flour (atta). Initially very apprehensive about the taste i was wondering aloud whether the wheat pizza dough will carry the same punch as its white counterpart but suprise, suprise-- it turned out pretty good and my daughter couldn't actually make out any difference.This was a conscious decision to keep it healthy and i am glad my family liked it this way !

Making Pizzas is fun - Other than adapting any recipe to suit our taste buds the thrill of home made pizzas gives quite a high !


Here's how:-


Ingredients


For the Pizza Dough :-

• Wheat & Multi Grain Flour - 2 cups
• Active dry yeast - 1 tsp
• Milk - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Warm water - as required
• Vegetable oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

For the Sauce :- ( I made Arrabbiata Sauce)

• Garlic - a few pods (chopped)
• Tomato - 1 or 2 (chopped in chunks)
• Tomato Sauce - 5-6 big spoons
• Basil leaves - 5 to 6 (julienned)
• Coriander leaves - a few sprigs (finely chopped)
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper - to taste 
• Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

For the Toppings :- (Sky is the limit here)

• Pitted Olives - a fistful
• Baby Corn - 2 (diced)
• Glazed Cherries - a few
• Onions  - 2 or 3 (thinly sliced)
• Green Capsicum - 1 (thinly sliced)
• Green Chillis - 2 (finely chopped)
• cottage Cheese -  100 gms (cubed)
• Garlic - 3 to 4 pods (chopped & lighlty sauteed)
• Mozarella Cheese - as required

For Garnish:-

• Oregano
• Chilli Flakes
• Tomato Sauce

How:-

Making the Dough:-

Activate the yeast by mixing it in warm water and sugar. It should become frothy in a couple of minutes ! 

Now in a bowl add the flour along with milk , salt and the active yeast. Start kneading the flour by adding warm water gradually. Finally add the vegetable oil and make it in to a smooth pliable dough. Transfer it to a  lightly greased bowl and cover with wet cloth. Allow it to rise and double in size.

After it rises knock off the excess air created by the yeast action and get set for making the base !

Making the sauce :- (you can use store-bought pizza sauce)

A detailed step by step method can be found in my earlier Post . To put it briefly - Saute the garlic along with Tomato (cut in to chunks) in olive oil.Add the tomato Sauce, followed by the Basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Once the sauce is cooked, add the finely chopped coriander leaves in the end. 

The Sauce is ready.

Preparing the Base :-

Take a medium sized ball from the dough and spread it across flatly (about 1cm thickness) dusting it with wheat flour if sticky

I made the base just like our rotis by cooking it on a tava -- alternatively u can bake the base in an oven @ 220 C for 10- 15 minutes till it becomes golden & crusty !

Assembling the pizza:-


Preheat the oven in Grill Mode @ 220 C for 10 minutes.


Smear the base with the sauce thoroughly ! Place the choice ingredients and top it up with cheese !
i made 4 different types of pizzas with the toppings:-

With Onion,Baby corn,cheese & Paneer

with capsicum

with cherries & green chillis (this had an awesome sweet-chiili taste)

finally with roasted garlic

Now for the Mozarella shavings:- ( to keep it healthier be strict with the cheese)

Now it is ready to go in the oven-- Grill it for 5 minutes or till the cheese starts melting -- Pizza is ready to be attacked !


Sprinkle with choice seasonings like oregano or red flakes and enjoy !

Linking this to Priya's Fast Food, Not Fat Food