Homemade pizza recipe, how to make pizza - Raks Kitchen (2024)

Homemade pizza recipe from scratch. Easy to make your own pizza dough at home. Simple procedure to enjoy pizza at home.

After I tried pizza base at home, last month, this is the second attempt I am making. It's successful too I must say. My facebook friends might have seen my first attempt homemade pizza picture.

I wanted to post it in my blog too. So here I have come up with a (semi) Indian flavoured pizza, I dint took much effort to make it more of Indianized version, still I tried to make it a bit spicy and Indian flavored.

So for the Indianizing part, what I added is paneer and baby corn as topping just like we get in Chennai and I sprinkled garam masala and tandoori masala over the toppings…

And the result is a yummy homemade Pizza, which my kid enjoyed a lot as it had the paneer and the baby corn, his favorite and of course pizza his favorite, so its a double treat for him!

I just followed the base recipe and method of Raaga-The singing chef , the recipe is a keeper! Right from the salt, everything is perfect measurement.

And If I could make, any one can make it 🙂 So don’t be afraid to try it out yourself. I have been using this for many recipe's base for a decade now.

You can also check my other Pizza video in Youtube.

🧀 Cheese

I usually go for grated mozzarella which is quick and best options. But you can also use cheese blends like Italian cheese mix, Mexican cheese mix or even Pizza cheese which is available commercially.

Sliced cheese (not the sandwich cheese slice) or cheese blocks can also be used. I love Monterey jack or Provolone cheese along with Mozzarella.

🌾 Best flour

All purpose flour works just fine. (Unbleached flour or maida) Bread flour can also be used. It has more gluten content, so turns out soft and spongy.

Substitutions

Flour: For pan pizza, I suggest to use all purpose flour for optimum results. If you do not want to compromise on taste, you can either try 50/ 50 wheat flour and all purpose flour.

If using fully wheat flour, I highly recommend using Bob's vital wheat gluten (not sponsored) for achieving the same texture.

You can of-course substitute with any healthy flour options like Rye, or any whole grain flour, but the texture may vary. If you do not want to compromise in texture, I suggest 50 : 50 ratio along all purpose flour or use vital gluten.

Storing

This is the most asked question in making pizza dough at home.

Yes, you can oil the surface of the dough, cling wrap and refrigerate upto 3 days. It can be after kneading or even after rising (punch down and knead to save in fridge). Take out when needed and leave it for rising on counter top as told in the recipe.

Freezing

Just like refrigerating, same way you can cling wrap and put inside a zip loc cover to freeze. To prepare the dough for making pizza, just thaw it by leaving in counter top for an hour and proceed.

After assembling

You can also assemble over the baking tray, cover it in cling wrap and refrigerate to bake later in the day. I would not suggest more than that in fridge.

For freezing, after it gets frozen in the tray cling wrapped, until it is solid to touch. Cling wrap tightly and cover with an aluminium foil. You can write down the date and time for reference over the foil. This will stay put for 3 months.

Top tip

• Instead of olive oil, use melt butter. Adds more flavor and taste.
• I make the dough sticky and avoid kneading too much. But you can also make the dough non sticky and knead well to bring the gluten out and result is much uniform and soft texture pizza base.
• If you have a stand mixer or a dough kneader like my Panasonic bread maker, you should make use of it for a perfect texture.

Yeast

If you are using active dry yeast, it is better to proof it before using in the recipe.

Take lukewarm water and milk in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and yeast to it. Using a whisk, dissolve completely. Keep this aside for 10 mins. It will become frothy

Or a frothy layer will form on top. Use this mixture to knead dough. If it remains same, the yeast is not active, discard and use fresh yeast. This process is known as proofing the yeast.

If you are using Instant yeast, no need to go through this step, just use 1 teaspoon of instant yeast for this recipe and use it along with all ingredients. Knead well.

Oven settings

I used a combination oven and baked the pizza in convection mode. This recipe, temperature and settings are for OTG or Convection oven/ convection mode.

You can't do it in Microwave 'mode'. Microwave will just melt your cheese in 2 mins, so the dough and cheese may not be cooked or browned.

Recipe card

Prepare pizza dough:

1. Gather the ingredients needed.

2. In a bowl, add lukewarm milk, water, oil, sugar and yeast. Mix well to dissolve the yeast. If you are not confident about the yeast, I would suggest proofing as suggested below the recipe card.

3. Add the flour, salt.

4. Knead to get a smooth dough.

5. Keep covered with a wet cloth till an hour.

6. After an hour it will be doubled in size.

7. Again gather to make a smooth pliable dough. I didn't fly the dough in air, just rolled using rolling pin 😏(Adjust the thickness and roll out to a single base)

Prepare pizza base

1. Roll out to a 14 inch disc using rolling pin. I usually roll in such a way that in the middle I thin out and outer part, thick.

2. Pat the sides to make the circle perfect as well as forming a rim to hold the melting cheese. (I folded in the below pic, but recommend forming a rim by patting the sides to adjust thickness as well as the shape)

3. Prick with fork in the base to ensure easy cooking. Spread the sauce generously covering the base, leaving out the rim.

4. Sprinkle some cheese. (Optional to spread cheese at this stage)

Assembling

1. Arrange the toppings as desired.

2. Add the grated cheese to cover the toppings.

3. Lastly to make it Indian, I sprinkled the masala powders.

Baking pizza

1. Grease a pizza pizza pan with olive oil or just dust with some flour. Transfer the rolled pizza base to the baking pan. You can roll/ wrap the base in the rolling pin gently and un-wrap in the baking pan.

2. Preheat the oven for 190 degree Celsius (375 F) and bake for 14 - 15 mins.

3. Bake untill the base starts to turn golden and the cheese turns golden brown. The base should move freely which indicates a perfectly baked base.

Transfer to another solid surface and cut out into 6 or 8 pieces.

I have recently only started baking and enjoy baking a lot now. so even if you are a beginner or new to baking, please don’t hesitate to try this one. It's very easy, easier than our day to day cooking 😉