Who doesn’t love gorging on some veg-loaded cheesy pizza? This lip-smacking delight is loved by people of all ages and is a comfort food that can be had at any time of the day. If you too indulge in a pizza often, then why order from the market, when you can make it at home.

When it comes to making a pizza at home, most of us run to our nearest store to purchase the base. The following recipe will tell you how easily you can make a pizza base at home and put up a healthy pizza in a jiffy.

Ingredients required

250 grams refined flour, ½ tsp dry yeast, ¼ tsp sugar, 2 tablespoon oil, salt as per taste and water as per need.

Method

• In a bowl, add yeast, sugar and 3 tbsp warm water. Mix lightly and set it aside for 2 minutes.
• In another bowl, add refined flour and salt as per your taste. Add 1 tbsp oil and mix. Add water in batches and slowly combine it well to form a dough.
• Once the dough is ready, keep it in a bowl and drizzle a spoon of oil on top. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it aside for 45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, you will notice that the dough has risen and doubled in size.
• Divide the dough into two equal parts and flatten it out to make a thin crust by flattening it out with your hands.
• Once it attains a circular shape, keep it in a baking tray that is dusted with flour. Use a fork to prick it all over.
• Bake the crust in a preheated oven at 210°C for 10-15 minutes. Your base is now ready to be used.

Homemade pizza

Once the base is ready, you can use it to make pizza directly. Just spread some pizza sauce on the base, top it with your favourite veggies like onion, tomato, capsicum, olives, baby corn and mushrooms. Add some grated cheese on top and lastly garnish with oregano and chilli flakes. You can either saute these veggies beforehand or again bake the pizza in the oven for 5-8 minutes. Cut into slices and your yummilicious homemade pizza is ready to be served.

Healthier version

If you want to avoid refined flour, then you can switch to some healthier flour versions as well. You can mix and match some flours like wheat flour, ragi flour, jowar flour or multigrain flour to create a healthy crust for your pizza.

Stretching the dough

Make sure you stretch the dough with your hands instead of using a rolling pin. This will retain the softness of the dough and will prevent it from breaking.

Crust of the pizza

Always flatten the dough out as thinly as possible. A thick crust might get baked from outside but can remain raw from inside and can also hamper the flavours of the pizza.

Storing the pizza base

If you have made extra pizza bases and wish to store them, then you can easily do so. Let the baked pizza base cool down completely and transfer it to a zip lock pouch. Keep it in the freezer and it will easily last 30 days.