Homemade Pizza

Overview

Ingredients - Dough

Ingredients - Topping

passata (about half a package)
~ 1 tbsp tomato paste
herbs and spices to taste (oregano, basil, paprika powder, pepper, cinnamon
1 tsp agave syrup or sweetener of your choice
olive oil
grated mozzarella
other: tuna, salami, ham, tomato, mushrooms, bell pepper, pineapple, brokkoli, cooked pasta, spinach, seafood or whatever you prefer

Notes

Recipe for 2 adults, 1 child for two days // four large pizzas

Prep time 15 min / Cook time 12 min / Rise time 60 min / Total time 1.5h

Oven temperature: 230°C bottom heat

To be honest, when we tried pizza for the first time I was sceptical but come on… pizza … Who does not like pizza?

You may have already guessed but it was not a huge success. My son is probably one of the few human beings on this planet who did not like pizza right away. The mistake we made is that we looked at this situation in the wrong way. We tried to give him pizza with an actual topping. Now you might think that the topping is the best thing about a pizza and that pizza without a topping tastes like … well … pizza dough and right you are. With a picky eater like this one, there was just no way that he would eat all of these different ingredients combined.

When we had that figured out, it became a lot easier. The first pizza was dough with a little bit of olive oil sprinkled on top of it. I know, sounds aweful but he loved it. Eventually he allowed us to put some sliced red bell pepper on top of it. Yay! That was it for quite some time. Then came the day when I was able to convince him that tomato sauce – which he already ate – could potentially taste okayish on pizza. Worked out pretty well and now tomato sauce is accepted. After what then felt like an eternity, he suddenly discovered that mozzarella on pizza tasted really good. I was able to convince him to add a tiny bit on the outermost corner of the pizza and from that day on, mozzarella became one of the regular toppings. Last but not least came the champignons. I really don’t remember how that happened but every once in a while he drops his guard and tries something new and that particular time it was the champignons. So all in all his pizza is now made of the pizza dough, oil + tomato sauce, mozzarella, bell pepper and champigons. For us, that is huge progress.

Preparation

Anyway, enough of our personal struggles; let me tell you about my absolute favourite pizza recipe:

Add the flour, salt and optional herbs and spices to a large bowl.
Make a hollow in the center and add the warm water, yeast and optional sugar.
Stir a little to dissolve the yeast and let it sit for a few minutes.
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly for approximately 10 minutes or until the dough has a soft texture and doesn’t stick anymore. You can start by mixing it in the bowl and continue on the work surface. That will be much easier.
Put the dough back into the bowl and cover it with cling film. Let it rest in a warm place for ~30 minutes
Divide the dough into 4 pieces (or whatever works best for you) and bring them into a more or less round shape. With these quantities we usually have a total of 1600g of dough which means that we divide it into pieces of 4x 400g.
Sprinkle the dough with some flour and cover it with a drying cloth for another 30 minutes. In the meantime you can preheat the oven together with the baking tray to 230°C bottom heat and prepare the toppings as well as the tomato sauce.
For the sauce, simply add the tomato paste, passata, herbs and spices, and the sweetener to a small bowl and stir until everything is well combined.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and place it on a piece of baking paper
Sprinkle some olive oil on the dough, add the tomate sauce and distribute both evenly
Add the mozzarella as well as the other toppings and then place the pizza with the baking paper on the baking tray
Place the baking tray at the lowest possible position in the oven and bake the pizza for about 12 minutes. Enjoy <3

Pizza for Birthdays

I love preparing pizza for birthdays, parties etc. because everyone gets to customize their pizza with their favorite toppings. Also, most of it can be prepared in advance – I know our last one looks extremely funny but it tasted pretty great and everyone was really happy.

Pizza Variations

You can create lots of pizza variations from one and the same dough:

For pizza buns, simply form smaller pieces of dough and fill them with different ingredients as desired. Feta cheese, ham, mozzarella or pineapple have worked well for us. I would also always cover the pizza buns with a little sauce (or at least a little olive oil) so that they don’t dry out. A little extra mozzarella on top never hurts either. Depending on the size, the pizza rolls can then simply be baked with the pizza for 12 minutes. You have to experiment a little here
For pizza sticks, simply roll out the dough and cut it into strips, which you then braid or twist together. If you like, you can spread them with pesto, sauce or similar and add a little mozzarella on top
To make a pizza calzone, only cover one half of the pizza (leaving out the edges) and then place the other half on top and press the edges down with a fork. As with the pizza rolls, I would brush the top with olive oil and/or sauce to prevent the dough from drying out and also spread a little cheese on top. However, this depends on your taste

Extra Tips

Use leftovers of bolognese sauce for the topping. It is already rich in flavor and gives your pizza a real special twist
It’s great fun to involve children in pizza baking. Make no mistake, the kitchen will look like a battlefield afterwards and you might as well get the hoover ready, but I think it’s more than worth it 😂. Depending on their age, the kids can weigh the ingredients, mix/knead, roll out, prepare the sauce, wash the ingredients, cut and/or top the pizza. Wherever necessary, just help out a little and you’ll see – in the end you’ll have super proud kids who have made their own pizza
Opt for a tablespoon or a similar utensil for mixing the ingredients until the water has absorbed most of the flour. This way, you’ll experience much less dough sticking to your hands
Experiment with different kinds of ingredients. Pizza is such a versatile dish and there’s no limit as to what you can put on top. However, avoid overloading your pizza as this can lead to a soggy crust

Remember, practice makes perfect! Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you.

More recipes

Pasta Bolognese ->

Here you will find our recipe for a simple but delicious Bolognese sauce. A classic that is at the top of most children’s and adults’ list of favorite dishes and yet is so versatile despite its simplicity.