Home Made Pizza

How to Make Thin Crust Pizza

Many people make pizza, but most use ready made crusts. Making your own pizza from scratch is so much more rewarding and delicious. Here is how to make a pizza the classic Italian way.

Ingredients

* 1 packet of active dry yeast
* 1 tsp of sugar
* 1 1/2 cups of warm water
* 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
* 1 tsp of salt
* 1 tablespoon of olive oil
* Tomato paste
* Grated cheese (usually mozzarella)
* Desired toppings

Steps

1. Dissolve one packet of active dry yeast and one teaspoon of sugar in to 1 1/2 cup of warm water, stir, and set to the side.
2. Combine 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour, a teaspoon of salt and a table spoon of olive oil in a large bowl; you can use your hands to mix at this point or use a spoon.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the bowl and stir with a large spoon until a dough forms.
4. Knead the dough.
5. Spread flour over a working surface and knead the dough for roughly 10 minutes.
6. Clean the large bowl for another use.
   
7. Let the dough rise
8. Roll dough into a ball and then put it back in the bowl, then cover it with cling film. Let it rise for 30 minutes; by then it should have roughly doubled in size.
9. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a large circle until you can roughly see through it.
10. Spread the tomato paste on the pizza
11. Move the base onto what ever tray you're going to put into the oven, make sure its oiled, and brush the tomato paste onto the surface, preferably with a pastry brush but an ordinary spoon will do.
12. There's a wide variety of cheese to choose from; all you need to do is shred it! Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on the pizza.
    
13. For a pizza with a bite, sprinkle some sliced pepper on itfor a pizza with a bite, sprinkle some sliced pepper on it. Add whatever toppings you would like. Make sure you will get at least one topping on each slice.
14. ...and the result is a delicious thin crust pizza
15. Place in an oven at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until ready.
    

Tips

* Remember to keep your work surface floured to prevent your dough from sticking to it.
* If your dough seems a little hard to knead, add a little water.
* There are no arbitrary rules as to what toppings you can put on a pizza; if you're not happy with savory pizza, go for sweet. Experiment!
* Roll the dough slightly larger than the size you want, as it will shrink somewhat in the oven.


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Ingredients

* 1 tsp yeast (dried, we use Surebake’s active yeast)
* 1 tsp sugar
* ½ Cup warm water
* 1 Cup flour

Method
Mix yeast, sugar and water together. Leave to sit in a warm place for about 7 minutes (until yeast and sugar has dissolved). Add flour and mix to make a firm dough (adding extra flour as necessary). Roll out and now you have your pizza base. I usually bake the base for about 10 minutes at 180oC (350oF), but this is not essential. Then add your toppings according to your taste. I usually spread tomato sauce or tomato paste on first, then add grated cheese, ham (or grilled & chopped bacon), mushrooms, diced tomatoes, pineapple and anything else that takes your fancy.
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