Rustic Pizza
Made from scratch with fresh Tomatoes & wild mushrooms.
We would often make these pizzas to feed “My always hungry boys & their friends visitinghome on week ends”.
Samson (my son’s classmate from Kodi school) and me would keep rolling out the pizzas, & baking them in my little gas oven, electricity was not reliable, Kodai being an hill station.
It was much later, I figured out that we also could grill these pizzas on a thick cast iron girdle, with any dome shaped cover!!
INGREDIENTS:
Pizza Dough:
¾ cup warm water
1Tsp active dry yeast,
1 Tsp salt
2 cups plain flour /maida + additional for rolling
1Table spoon olive oil
For the Topping:
1 kg Tomatoes
About 2 big Onions cut into slices
200gms Mushrooms (we would use the Kodai wild mushrooms )
Salt to taste
Freshly ground Pepper
¼ cup of Oregano/ chopped fresh basil.
¼ cup Olive oil + additional for brushing and drizzling
2 cups shredded Kodai mozzarella cheese
METHOD:
To prepare the dough. :
1.In a small bowl of warm water, sprinkle the yeast with 1/2 tsp of sugar & little flour, stand aside 10 min until foamy.
2.In a larger bowl pour in 1/2 the water , Stir in the oil, salt and flour add the activated yeast mix & knead together till all comes to form a ball , remove onto a floured surface & knead to form a smooth dough ,( adding more flour if needed ) knead about 3 to 5 min.to make a smooth elastic dough, oil the dough & keep in an oiled bowl Covered with a cling wrap or a damp tea towel ,
set aside in a warm place, to prove , till doubles in size , for about an hour.
remove onto a floured work surface , punch down the dough, divide into 8 balls & with a rolling pin roll to make 8” pizzas, ( Left over dough, can be kept in a refrigerator over night , well wrapped in a plastic bag & kept in an airtight container. )
Topping -
Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water. Run through cold water. peel the Skin and roughlychop the tomatoes.
In a pan on medium high heat, sauté the crushed garlic, sauté the onions, add the blanched & skinned tomatoes, salt & a tablespoon of sugar( this brings out the tomato flavours), pepper, a tablespoon of dry oregano. cook for 5 to 8 min. turn off the heat.
Now heat one tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the sliced mushrooms, seasoning with salt until wilted and almost dry – say 3 to 5 min. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 220 deg C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a 2” ball of dough to about ¼ “ thickness, about 6 -8 “ big,
on an oiled aluminium plates.
Top the base with (one big ladle ) of the Tomato paste , spread all over.
Scatter the mushroom, fresh basil, dot well with mozzarella cheese and place in the preheated oven ,
drizzled with little bit of olive oil, and bake for 6 to 7 min till the cheese melts and covers the pizza.
Slice and serve as desired.
This make about 6 to 8 pizzas, depending on the size.
Suggestions :
Can top with - sliced onions, sliced capsicums, sliced shredded boiled chicken, or diagonally cut sausages as you like.
Samson always mentioned that he would open a pizza place in Kodai when he finished school, as he so thoroughly enjoyed making his pizzas.