The term Pizza was first recorded in 997 AD, in a Latin manuscript from the Southern Italian town of Gaeta in Lazio, on the border with Camparia. Pizza is an Italian, specifically Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven. Pizza and its variants are among the most popular foods in the world and is sold at variety of restaurants, including pizzerias, Mediterranean restaurants, via delivery, and as a street food.
Ingredients
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups warm milk
- 8 tbsp. Oil
- 2 tbsp. Milk powder
- 2 level tbsp. Instant yeast
- ¼ tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tbsp. Sugar
- ½ tsp. Salt
Procedure
- Mix all the dry ingredients and the oil, then slowly start adding the warm milk a little at a time. Get it to a soft dough, the softer the better, knead it very well for at least 8 minutes or more if possible.
- Dab a touch of oil all over the dough, then cover it and place it somewhere warm. Leave it to rise to double its size, takes about 30 min to an hour depending on the weather.
- Once risen, punch it down, give it a quick knead and then divide the dough into 2 equal parts.
- Roll half of the dough to about 12inches, then place it on a greased pizza tray.
- Divide the second part of the dough into small balls, fill each one with cheese of your choice, I used some grated mozzarella. Seal the balls well and place them all around the border of the pizza.
- Lightly cover the pizza and let it sit for about 15 minutes.
- For the topping you can use anything that you like mozzarella and/or cheddar cheese,1 beaten egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp. milk, sesame seeds, minced meat, onions, black olives, pizza sauce, ketchup, sweet corn, green pepper.
- When about ready to bake, take a knife and poke small slits a few times all over the base of the pizza to prevent it from swelling up during baking.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C
- Spread the pizza sauce, sprinkle some cheese, and then add toppings of your choice. Sprinkle some more cheese on top. Then brush the balls on the border of the pizza with the beaten egg and sprinkle sesame seeds.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until the pizza is well cooked and golden. You can first place it on the lower rack for about 10 minutes, then bring it up a notch to the center rack and continue baking until done.
