slurpy platter: MULTI-GRAIN PIZZA FROM THE SCRATCH

Okay! I know I haven't been blogging much these days,but, I'm trying to make sometime for posting this. I have been baking a lot and experimenting new dishes, unfortunately the dish gets consumed within minutes of prep even before I get a chance to shoot them. I will not beat around the bush but get straight to the recipe.

The much awaited and requested recipe is here. From colleagues, friends, family and strangers too :) I'd been to the 'Breaking Bread' workshop conducted by Saffron Trail which had an exclusive session on baking all breads from the scratch. Right from handling and proofing the yeast to raising the dough, it was a fun filled class not only with respect to culinary art but bonding over food with complete strangers!

Who wouldn't love the thought of making a pizza, well, a healthy, multi-grain pizza from the scratch? Making your own base, making your own sauce and topping it up with some exotic veggies! ahh the aroma of pizza baking inside your oven wafting through the house! I'M DROOLING ALL OVER AGAIN! :P In fact, I made 5 batches of pizza for 5 different sets of guests that came home, after the success of the very first one.

Let's talk about the success story of the multi-grain pizza that tickled the taste buds of all my near and dear ones.

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE MISSED A FEW STEP-BY-STEP PICS IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING PIZZA, LET PARDON REIGN OVER ME :P I WILL TRY MY BEST TO EXPLAIN IT WITH PLAIN AND SIMPLE STEPS THRU MY VERBOSA. LET PEACE PREVAIL AND THE PIZZA PROMISE TO SATIATE YOUR GASTRONOMIC KINGDOM.

Before I begin with the recipe I'd like to tell you where I bought a few ingredients for the pizza.

Whole Flax seed from Namdharis. You would have to dry roast the flax seed until you get a nice aroma and they start crackling and grind it to a fine powder. Flax seeds are not meant to be consumed as a whole since they are difficult to digest. You could buy flax seed powder from Namdharis, but again depends on your wallet factor.

Using flax seeds as an ingredient helps as a protein pack and yes , of course the guilt-free binging of pizza :)

Exotic vegetables like olives (both black & green), fresh basil, red, yellow and orange bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, baby corn and others are also available at Namdharis. Also at big bazaar and other big scale super markets except for basil.

I got my active dry yeast from Bakersmart, you can buy all other baking stuff from here. You can buy yeast from the regular super market as well. Make sure you refrigerate it once you open the pack or transfer it to an air tight container and store it in the freezer.

Alrighty! so here we begin making our zesty and juicy piZZA!

Serves: 4

Makes 1 large rectangular pizza or 3 medium size pizzas.

Shelf Life : 1/2 an hour :P no kidding eat while it's hot.

Ingredients
For the base:

All purpose flour/ maida	2 cups
Whole wheat flour	1 cup
Flax Seed powder	1 tbsp
Active dry yeast	1 ½ heaped tsp
Lukewarm Water	1 ½ cups
Salt	½ tsp
Olive oil	2 tbsp
Milk	¼ cup

For the sauce:

Tomatoes, halved*	5
Garlic, minced	2-3 cloves
Onion, finely chopped	1 (medium size)
Fresh basil leaves, finely chopped	A small bunch
Ground black pepper	1 tsp
Red chilli flakes	1 tsp
Olive oil	2 tbsp
Salt	As needed

* You can use ready made tomato puree instead if you don't want to make the puree at home.

For the topping:

Vegetables of your choice. If you want an exotic pizza you can use all veggies on top. I uses red, yellow and green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, onions, black olives and of course Mozzarella cheese ( I used Brittania) you get GO cheese, Milky Mist and a whole lot of other stuff you can choose from your supermarket aisle.

If you want a pizza with fewer toppings then you can use minimal veggies/ meat of your choice.

Directions

To activate the yeast:

1. Slightly warm the water in a saucepan ( until you can comfortably dip your fingers in it), add sugar( this is food for yeast) and stir until it dissolves and turn off the stove. This is a very important and a fundamental step since the entire process is dependent on it. So make sure the temperature of the water is just right for the yeast to get activated. Now add the yeast and close it with a lid/plate. Let it rest for 5 minutes. After opening it should have frothy brown bubbles, this means the yeast is activated. YOUR FIRST STEP TO MAKING A PIZZA IS DONE AND IS A SUCCESS!

For the Base:

2. In a huge bowl, mix the all purpose flour, wheat flour, flax seed powder, salt and a pinch of sugar. Now add the yeast mixture and gather the dough gently. It will stick to your hand but still manage to gather all the dough to a mass and then add a few drops of olive oil and knead the dough gently until all the dough stops sticking and forms a mass.

3. Store this in a bowl covered with a lid/plate/ plastic sheet in a warm place( for best results, keep a mug of water in a microwave safe cup and heat it on high for 1 minute and keep the mug out)now push the dough bowl into the microwave and close the door. Store it for 1- 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size ( ref pic below). You can check on the dough after an hour.

4. After the dough has doubled in size, knead it again gently on a flat surface using the flour with the heel of your palm. Ref Pic. Keep the dough in the microwave for yet another half an hour until it doubles in size again. Punch it down and knead again until it becomes a soft dough ( a gentle touch with your finger should push the dough) ref pic below:

5. Meanwhile, For the sauce:

Halve the tomatoes into 4 parts and boil them in water for 15 mins until they turn mushy and the skin wilts. Now retain the water and just puree the tomatoes once they are cool. *If you want to skip this step you can get ready-made tomato puree available in tetra packs.

6. Heat olive oil in a wide bottomed sauce pan on medium low flame and add the minced garlic followed by finely chopped onions, saute until the onions turn translucent and add the basil, give it another stir. Now add the tomato puree, pepper, salt, red chilli flakes and a pinch of sugar and simmer it on low flame until it thickens a bit. Your sauce is done!

7. The grand finale-To make the pizza

With all the ingredients ready you cant just wait to hog the winner!

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celcius.

Use a large tray lined with parchment paper and smear it with a bit of oil.

Pull the dough out of the microwave. It would have doubled in size again. Slightly punch it down and roll it gently on a flat surface using a rolling pin to an even thickness ( this is for rectangle pizza). If you prefer round pizza you can make equal sized balls and roll them evenly to suit your needs.

Just smear a bit of oil oil to prevent the dough from drying. Now spread the sauce all over the base and top it up with your choice of toppings ( be easy on the toppings as this might cause uneven baking of the pizza).

Grate the cheese on top of it and push it inside the oven and bake till the sides of the crust turn golden brown or insert a knife to see if the crust has hardened a bit. AND THERE YOU GO!! THE YUMMY, DELIGHTFUL, DELECTABLE, HEALTHY AND ZESTY PIZZA IS JUST HOT OUTTA THE OVEN! JUST GRAB A BITE WHILE IT'S HOT AND SEE IT VANISH IN A BLINK OF YOUR EYE :)

Just before going inside the oven!

Just out of the oven!

Notes:

The temperature of the eater is very important for the yeast to survive and get nourished. So it HAS TO BE LUKE WARM AND NOT VERY WARM
You can add toppings of your choice.
you can use readymade tomato puree tetra pack that you get in the super markets. But I'd personally prefer blanching the tomatoes myself and making the puree at home.
If you have any other queries please write to me/ ping me on FB or whatsapp, and I'd be more than happy to clarify your queries.