Our family is so much in love with pizza. We are 5 in the family and we can eat an entire 18 inches pizza in no time. Well, its me and my siblings who eats most of the share. I could still remember during our childhood that we would fold the pizza into two and hurried it into our mouth so we can get most of the pizza. We love Shakey’s that time and now, we already explored other pizzas that are delicious too, like Yellow Cab, Sbarro’s pizzas and Bigoli’s pizzas.
So, this rainy afternoon, I decided to make a homemade pizza. I got some chicken breast in the fridge and bought a bag of spinach and a bottle of sun dried tomatoes in sunflower oil. Just made a homemade pizza dough from scratch, spread some tomato sauce and topped it with spinach, chicken, olives and sliced cream cheese and afternoon snack is solved.
This homemade pizza dough really got my arms working. This homemade pizza recipe makes a crispy slightly chewy type of dough. Next time, I’ll make a thin crust type or a soft type pizza dough. The tomato sauce is made of canned diced tomatoes, simmered until all the water were gone and only the tomato puree were left. The chicken were only seasoned with salt and pepper and pan grilled for few minutes. This recipe of homemade pizza would make 20 slices of pizza.
Ingredients
Dough
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour (I made use additional cup during kneading)
2 1/4 teaspoons Instant Dry Yeast
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg (I should have added 1-2 teaspoons for more flavor)
1 1/2 cups Warm Water, 55-60 degrees Celsius
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Pan Grilled Chicken
1/4 kilo Chicken Breast
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
Pizza Sauce
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic Chopped
1 small can (450 mL) Canned Diced Tomatoes
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup Chopped Parsley
1 teaspoon Sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings
Spinach
Sliced Black Olives
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sliced Cream Cheese
Procedure
Dough
Mix all dry ingredients, Give it a quick stir to ensure ingredients are equally distributed.
Combine warm water and oil. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir until you form a sticky dough.
Transfer the dough on a generously floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is not anymore sticky.
Shape the dough into a ball. transfer in a greased bowl and cover with a towel for a hour. By this time, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
After an hour, the dough should double in size.
Transfer on a floured surface. Divide into two portions and flat the dough to desired thickness. Rest the dough for 10 minutes.
Sauce
Saute garlic in olive oil. Pour the canned diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all the water evaporated and you get this thick puree consistency. Mashed the tomatoes using a fork to further reduce the size of the diced tomatoes. Add chopped parsley and simmer for another 3 minutes. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste.
Pan Grilled Chicken
Pat dry the chicken breast. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a non-stick pan. pour the olive oil and spread evenly on to the pan. When already hot, add the chicken and reduce heat to medium high. You should be able to hear the sizzling sound, indicating the oil is already hot. Cook until each side of the chicken is already golden brown. Roughly around 7 minutes on the first side and 5 minutes on the other side. Rest the chicken for 10 minutes and slice.
To Assemble the Pizza
Brush the surface of the flattened dough with olive oil. This will help to avoid sogginess of the dough. Spread half of the tomato sauce on the first pie crust.
Add the toppings; spinach, grilled chicken, cream cheese, black olives and sun dried tomatoes. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
You can actually use your choice of toppings. You can use salami, sausage, ground pork/beef, tuna or veggies. It just so happened that we are avoiding fatty food lately for our mom so healthy cooking is a must. You can also use mozzarella cheese or a cheaper quick melt cheese will do. It’s your pizza anyway so dress it up the way you want. There are no rules in dressing up a pizza so don’t be afraid that you’ll go to jail.
