Pizza!!! Pizza!!! Pizza!!!

  

I’m certain most of us have enjoyed pizza at least once in our lives. For me, it’s been a favorite since childhood—I’ve loved it ever since I was a little girl.

While the deep-pan Chicago style, with its soft, buttery crust, is undeniably rich and satisfying, my personal preference leans toward the classic Italian thin-crust pizza. Light, crisp, and full of flavor, it’s the style that truly wins my heart.

Pizza is typically yeasted flatbread. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish and its variants have since become popular and common in many areas of the world. Foods similar to pizza have been made since the neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. The ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese.

A popular contemporary legend holds that the classic pizza, pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen Margherita. Of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pizza swathed in the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella). Supposedly, this kind of pizza was then named after the Queen.

Pizza was brought to the United States with Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. The first known official pizzeria in the United States was supposedly opened by a grocer, Gennaro Lombari, in 1905 in New York City. It wasn’t until the early 1930s that he got around to putting tables and chairs in his establishment. But it was during the pop culture in the 1950s, that pizza became popular.

I’ve explored pizzas in just about every form imaginable. I’ve savored them fresh from bustling pizzerias, reheated frozen ones straight from the oven, and enjoyed the convenience of home delivery. I’ve even experimented with ready-to-bake bases from the market, layering them with my own choice of toppings, store-bought tomato sauce, and a generous sprinkle of grated cheese.

In short, I’ve tasted pizza in nearly every way it’s offered—and each version has its own charm. 

But the day I made a pizza entirely from scratch—kneading the dough for the base and simmering my own sauce—it was a revelation. The flavors were richer, the crust more satisfying, and the whole experience felt special. From that moment on, store-bought bases never found their way back into my kitchen.

Homemade pizza crust may sound difficult. But trust me – Making pizza crust is a lot like making regular bread, only quicker and well, flatter. 

Nothing beats freshly baked pizza. 

Mr. Peter loves it, the children adore it—and for me, that joy is more than enough.

So, here's the recipe: 
This recipe is enough for one 14-inch pizza with a thin bottom crust and enough dough around the edge to munch on. 

Ingredients:
For the base:

3tsp active dry yeast
3 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:
4-5 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
6-7 medium sized tomatoes - chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt & Pepper - to taste
1 tsp dried basil ( 2-3 fresh basil leaves - chopped)
1 tbsp olive oil

For the toppings:
1 cup Mozzarella cheese - grated 
Roughly chopped/ sliced - Onions, tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms. 

Method:
For the base:
In a bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and warm water. Give it a stir and wait for the yeast to bloom, about 10-15 minutes. 
Stir in 1 cup flour and add the salt, and then stir in another cup of flour. 
Dump mixture on a kneading board and work in the last cup of flour, kneading until dough is soft and elastic, but not sticky. 
Else, add in more flour and knead more. Form dough into a ball. 
In another bowl, pour in 1 tbsp of olive oil and spread it around. 

Coat the ball of dough with oil and cover the bowl with a damp towel and let dough rise for 40 minutes. 
Punch down dough and knead on board for about 2 mins. Dough is now ready to spread on the pan. 

To avoid sticking of crust, apply a little bit of oil and then work dough to pan. 


For the sauce:
Heat pan and pour the olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté for a while. Add the tomatoes and cook well till they become very soft and mushy. 
Add the salt, sugar and pepper and mix well. Finally add the basil. The sauce is ready. Let it cool. 
This is nothing but the Marinara sauce.

Assembling & cooking the pizza:
Once the dough has been put on the pan, spread the sauce, add the toppings and finally top it up with the mozzarella cheese. 
Bake at 250°C for 10-12 minutes. 

La pizza è servita!!!

Buon appetito!!!

You can top your pizza with just about anything—barbecue chicken, ham, sausage, pepperoni, capsicum, corn, pineapple, or even jalapeños. And if you prefer simplicity, a classic combination of sauce and cheese tastes absolutely delicious on its own.

The beauty of pizza lies in its versatility—the choices are truly endless.