HOMEMADE THIN CRUST PIZZA – NO OVEN

    A crispy  base smothered with generous amounts of cheese and flavourful chunky sauce that is loaded with toppings, give me a pizza like that and I’ll be hooked for life ! Well, what if I tell you that YOU can make this pizza at home WITHOUT an oven !! Yup, a few days back I made this no oven pizza recipe and I was floored by the results. And it is unbelievably easy too. 

   I have cooked the pizza base on a pan so no more store bought pizza base for me, yay ! I have used all purpose flour for this recipe but you can substitute with 50% whole wheat flour and the results will still be awesome. Since we will be cooking the pizza on a pan, roll them fairly thin (3-5 mm) so that they don’t remain doughy.

   To make the sauce thick and luscious I have diced the blanched tomatoes roughly into big pieces instead of using tomato puree. This gives the sauce lots of body and it is so flavourful . I have kept the sauce simple with just garlic, fresh basil and oregano and I’ve also omitted sugar. But if you prefer a desi version  then feel free to add a dash of tomato ketchup, red chilly powder and sugar to this recipe.

   When buying herbs I always buy individual dried herbs instead of mixed herbs. This way I can control the quantity  that goes in each recipe and I can play with the flavour combinations instead of relying on company formulas. I feel that  Since we are not native users of these herbs, we don’t experiment enough and all our “continental”  food tastes the same. Certain herbs go well with certain dishes. for eg. rosemary goes really well in roast potatoes but not so much in a pizza . These herbs are also used in different combinations in widely dissimilar cuisines for e.g., oregano is used in Italian as well as Mexican cuisine so If you buy mixed herbs the taste of the dish will be the same for both the cuisines. Buying individual herbs allows me to experiment more , which I love rather than dishing out the same standard “fancy” fare all the time ! Also, I always use fresh basil not dried because it tastes so much better !

   I made this pizza in 2 ways, by baking it on the pan with the help of salt (refer recipe) and cooking it directly on the pan in some olive oil. Both methods work well but I actually prefer the latter as the pizza turns out really crispy, which I love.

   The cheese on this pizza takes a while to melt on the pan as there is no top heating element unlike an oven, so if you are planning to make this for more people you can simultaneously use two pans. I would also recommend that you sauté the toppings and par cook them beforehand so that they don’t remain raw as the base can get quite crispy before the toppings have cooked through.

   I prefer NOT to use only processed mozzarella cheese eg. Mooz, Amul,etc  for my pizza as I find it very chewy once the pizza cools down a bit and it also lacks the salty , cheesy taste. Blended mozzarella , which is a processed blend of cheddar and mozzarella cheese, is my cheese of choice as the cheddar gives great cheesy taste while the mozzarella lends a nice stretchiness to the melted cheese. In India, Go pizza cheese, Britannia pizza cheese and Dairy craft pizza cheese are the few brands that I have tried and liked !

Print Recipe

Home made Thin crust pizza - No Oven

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Author: Hasti Parekh

Ingredients

• 150 gm All purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 tsp Yeast
• 70 ml Water
• 10 ml Oil
• 1 tsp Sugar

FOR PIZZA SAUCE

• 400 gm Tomatoes
• 4 medium cloves Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Salt to taste
• 6-7 leaves Basil
• 1/2 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Chilly flakes
• Vegetables of choice as toppings
• Pizza cheese

Instructions

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm water. Make a smooth dough with the flour,salt and this liquid. Once you form a soft dough, knead it well and add oil to it.
• In a well oiled bowl, place this dough and cover it with a plastic film or wet kitchen towel. Let it rise until double.
• Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and dunk the tomat0es in it for 2-3 mins or just until the skin cracks. Remove them from the water and let them cool completely. This is called "Blanching". Now peel the skin and chop the tomatoes into medium sized chunks.
• Heat some olive oil in a pan and saute the finely chopped garlic for 3-4 mins. Once the raw smell goes off add the tomato dices and salt. Cover and cook this till the tomatoes soften. You can stir in between and even use a potato masher or the back of your spatula to break down the bigger pieces.
• Once the tomatoes are cooked add in the herbs and cook for some more time till the sauce thickens and water does not separate from it.
• once the dough has risen perfectly , punch it down and divide it into three equal portions. Roll them out thinly (3-4mm) in a round shape. Let them rest for 10-12 mins. with the help of a fork dock the pizza dough(make smalle holes) all over.
• On a heated tawa, roast the pizza dough on both sides for 3-4 mins.
• Now on a well oiled plate , build the pizza with the sauce, cheese and toppings. roast the toppings beforehand so that they dont release water on the pizza and make it soggy.
• Spread salt all over a flat bottom pan/tawa. Place a ring or wire rack in the centre, cover it with a lid and pre heat it on medium flame. This will act as an oven.
• Place the pizza inside the oven and cook on medium heat till the cheese melts.
• You can also heat a tsp of oil on the pan and place the pizza in it. cover and cook till the base gets crispy.

Notes

Notes :-

1.The rising time of the yeast dough depends on the temperature of your kitchen, it can be anywhere between 45 mins to 1.5 hours. So dont rush this step. You can place your bowl in a barely warm cooker to fasten this process.

2.I prefer to make tomato sauce with big chunks instead of pureeing them as I find it to be more flavourful. You can also blend the tomatoes in a mixer and use that puree but you will get a much thinner sauce which you can thicken with a little cornflour.

3.Since the tawa doesn't have a top heating element like an oven the toppings dont cook fully in this method, so I would suggest that you roast them before putting them on the pizza Or salt them well to remove their moisture beforehand. Raw vegetables leave water when they cook which can make your pizza soggy.

4.The salt method will melt the cheese completely,but the base will not be supar crispy. The direct pan method will result in very crispy pizza but the cheese may not melt completely.

5.If you are planning to make this for more then 2 people, I would suggest that you use 2 different pans simultaneously so that you can make pizzas faster.

6.Always use pizza cheese which is a blend of mozzarella and cheddar as opposed to plain mozzarella as it tastes much better .

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