We love pizza in this house! I changed up the sauce this time by cooking it with fresh cherry tomatoes and adding three cheeses, this made a huge difference to the flavor. Try it out and let me know what you think!
Ingredients
Serving size: two medium-sized pizzas
Pizza sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried thyme)
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 cup tomato passata
½ tsp oregano
1 pinch of red chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Pizza crust
3 1/3 cups of self-rising flour (or all-purpose/bread flour)
1 package active yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
Toppings
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Fresh mozzarella (enough to top two pizzas generously)
½ cup parmesan
Pepperoni (your desired amount) sliced into thick pieces
¼-½ cup basil, chopped
Jalapeños (optional)
Directions
Pizza sauce
Add 2 tbsp olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the garlic, tomatoes, and thyme. Try to place cherry tomatoes on the flat side so they cook faster. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add tomato paste, stir to combine, then add tomato passata, oregano, red pepper chili flakes, salt and pepper. Keep cooking until tomatoes start to burst or press them down to create a thick sauce.
Pizza crust
In large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is mixed together.
Pour in the warm water and stir with the wooden spoon or dough whisk until a sticky shaggy dough forms and there is only a bit of flour left at the bottom of the bowl
Knead the dough in the bowl with both hands until there is no dry flour at the bottom, this should take about 5 minutes. Start by poking the dough with your fingers and squishing it with your fists. Once the flour has incorporated keeping folding the dough and pressing it down with the heel of your hand until the dough no longer sticks to your hand. Form a large ball with the dough.
Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough ball in the greased bowl - make sure to coat all of it with olive oil. Cover with a lid or tightly with plastic and place in a warm place to proof for one hour or up to two hours.
After an hour, the dough should have risen at least 50%.
Dust a clean surface and sprinkle with flour. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form each piece into a ball by stretching the sides and tucking them underneath.
Place the dough balls on your floured surface and cover with the large bowl to rise for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 260C/500F.
Grab one dough ball and roll out with a rolling pin to form the shape of the circle. Using your hands, tug on the sides of the dough to spread it out more. You want the pizza to be fairly thin. Baking the pizza on a pizza tray is recommended!
Assembling the pizza
Place dough on baking tray, add tbsp of tomato paste to coat the surface of the dough, then add pizza sauce. Top with half the cheese and desired amount of pepperoni, then add half the basil and sprinkle with a few more red chili flakes. With a brush, coat the crust of the pizza with olive oil. Repeat same steps with the second dough ball.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, I baked it for 10 minutes at 260C/500F. Try turn the tray while baking if it cooks unevenly in your oven.
This looks in incredible!