benazir's blog

Pizza And The Many Yummy Ways To Make It

This post is about pizza. Everyone all over the world loves it and there are many ways to make it because the toppings that you want on here are endless. I make a homemade Italian sausage out of the ground meat such as turkey, chicken, beef, veal and lamb. These are highly suggested and I used ground turkey for this one. I also used an Italian seasoning I made myself. I make it out of 1 pinch of rosemary, 1 pinch of sage, 1 pinch of thyme, 1 pinch of marjoram, 1 pinch of basil, 1 pinch of oregano, 1 pinch of fennel seeds,the fennel seeds gets placed whole is for Italian sausage only, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 pinch of red pepper flakes to give it a nice kick. If you don’t like red pepper flakes in your sausage then use 1 pinch of black peppercorns crushed. The red chili flakes and the crushed black peppercorns are a must. I prefer red pepper flakes though. Or I would now do it the Nigerianlazychef way and make suya pizza. Again this can be used with any ground meat or with chicken or beef chunks cut very small. After I read her blog I tried it out and I told her it became a new hit in my house she was more then thrilled that we love her suya pizza recipe. Here is the suya paste recipe before you go any further

If you want do the suya pizza route then buy or make your own suya or yaji spice. Look on the net like I did. As for this bottle of ice cold non alcoholic brew, don’t worry it doesn’t have a drop of the offensive intoxicant in here. I keep a strict zabhiha halal kitchen and I take pride in it. If the suya option is not your thing make the pizza out of the Italian seasonings I had mentioned. This non alcohol malt beverage doesn’t have sugar in it either it is not no where near as sweet and sugary as malta Goya or India in the store. Plus Bavaria malt is delicious and recommended with pizza. I am not wanting Goya malta anymore since I kicked white sugar for good. After you have your Italian sausage made, cover and put it in the fridge until you make the crust and grate the cheese. If you want to use already grated mozzerella cheese it is in the store and it is up to you. My way is to coarsely great the cheese and I make the pizza dough the same manner that I make bread dough.

No not the dough recipe I made last night that is type. This is the same type basic dough that you use to make bread with too. It is also used for making pizza crust. Let me show you how to make pizza crust. Get a large mixing bowl with a lid and add 1 cup of all purpose unbleached flour or for whole wheat option for those that want it 1/2 cup of all purpose of unbleached flour and 1 cup of wheat flour. Add 1 pinch of yeast, 1 pinch of baking powder, this is your dough conditioner. Add a pinch of sugar in the raw or turbinado sugar to activate the yeast and add 1 pinch of Himalayan pink salt. Shan and Lazzat both make it and it can be found in Pakistani grocery stores. Or you can use a pinch of kosher salt. This is the dry ingredients now add the wet by adding 1/2 cup of warm water working slowly until you have a decent dough. Knead as you go along while adding water slowly. Add some 2 tbs of olive oil to the dough and knead again until the dough is pliable and moves away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the dough and put it in the warm place with the lid and allow the dough to rise. This should at least take an hour. Pictured is the thin crust pizza. There is also the deep dish which is you make crust and make sure it comes up to the sides of a regular pie plate. A thick crust is that you do not roll the dough so thin and you place this in either a round or a rectangular baking dish. For stuffed pizza which means you have to roll out two pieces of dough for this type of pizza. Giodanno’s has this type of pizza but I can not eat there and haven’t in ages. For this I made the spinach pizza like this and this and the thick crust and the deep dish takes a little longer to cook. This is for oven and instant pot instructions only and this would be at least to 25 to 30 minutes.

While you are waiting cut your choice of vegetables for the toppings on the pizza that you desire. Some people eat pineapple on pizza and to me that is just gross. So if you want to put on there, for those that want it then go ahead to add it. That is if you want it that way.

For those that want the suya pizza option check out the Nigerianlazychef for the suya pizza instructions. You will need to make a fried pepper stew for the sauce option of the suya pizza and use suya spice on the crust and your choice of meat you are putting on your pizza. If you want The non suya pizza option besides the toppings very . It differs from person to person.

There is the homemade Italian sausage option that I described at the top and there are others like shrimp, turkey or beef bacon, zabiha halal pepperoni, anchovies Oh MY God!!!!!!! I love anchovies !!!!!!!! Some people think it is gross and I love it. That is my normal topping of choice.

Vegetable toppings include bell pepper, onion, sun dried tomatoes, olives, any type of mushroom is fine too, either black, green or both. It all depends on your taste or you just may want just cheese. It is endless and my husband who has a birthday today. Happy Birthday Riaz Khan!!!!!

He has really turned in to a pizza fiend and loves my pizzas.

Time to check on the dough to see if it has risen. If it has doubled in bulk then punch the dough and knead it again. This time the dough is more stretchy and elastic. Cover and let it sit again for another hour. If suya pizza option only make the fried pepper sauce by making in blender 1 tomato, 1 red bell pepper,1 onion, 1 habenero or scotch bonnet and remove the seeds and vein if you do not want all of that heat. and purè it on high. Put sauce in a pot with the olive oil and a 1 tbs of tomato paste and fry the sauce on low until you see cracks. No need to use salt because the suya spice has a bullion cube in there you do not want it too salty.

Preheat your oven to 400F or 200C

Take your dough out and flour the board tray or whatever I use a tray and rolling pen. Dunk a piece of dough in to the flour and roll the dough. if you want it thin thick or even stuffed the choice is yours. Stuffed pizza is like 1 pizza stacked on top of the other and there is also deep dish. So if you want the deep dish option use your pie plates and line your cookie sheet or pie plate if you are going to do deep dish or stuffed pizza with parchment paper and stab the bottom of the pizza making holes with a fork at the bottom. This will ensure your pizza crust is going to be cooked right. Before you add your sauce suya or the other. For suya option the Nigerianlazychef way the fried pepper sauce followed by a sprinkle of suya spice store bought or homemade. Add the grated mozzerella cheese and your choice of veg or meat or if you want just cheese that is fine too. Also you can mix it up and add pineapple if you wish or even add spinach. Oh yeah spinach pizza yummy. If making regular pizza then just add tomato paste to the crust. Add random toppings whatever you are craving that your stomach is telling you.

If you are using beef and chicken chunks for suya pizza option then cut it very small so it can cook better and faster and fry in olive oil about 2 tbs until it is done tender and you don’t see anymore blood and it is well cooked. Sprinkle suya spice and fry some more for a minute then add to the pizza that has the fried pepper sauce for suya option.

Then bake the pizza of your choice in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the crust is done and the cheese is bubbly and and gooey. For the instant pot and the like method there is the pot in pot method.

Insert the trivet and the disk on top of it and use the baking dishes for instant pot and the like. place the air fryer lid on top and select bake like you would in regular oven for the same amount of time and temp. The instant pot can be used for Fahrenheit and Centigrade by holding the plus button in the upper left to switch between the two. Also it can be done on tawa meaning griddle on stovetop. I did this in Pakistan to show my nieces how to make pizza because we couldn’t get the oven to come on.

This oven you had to light and it is dangerous. It is one of my sister in laws. Roll out the dough thin. Make sure the tawa is very hot. Spray with cooking spray and cook like you would chapati. Don’t over cook the crust. Precook the meat and sauté the onion and bell pepper. Assemble like you would either an instant pot or oven pizza putting tomato paste first then the Italian mixed herbs. Now arrange the toppings of choice and turn down the heat to low and let the cheese melt. Carefully remove when done. Also you can cut the finished tawa pizza when done.

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