Easy Thin-Base Pizza Crust Recipe

 

My boys LOVE pizza, I love pizza. Our family loves pizza. We eat pizza a lot.

 

After a visit to my sister in Australia, she showed me how easy it was to make homemade pizzas. She used a recipe out of one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks. The kids loved it.

 

So, as any mother of pizza-loving kids would do, I tried the recipe at home. My dough-making fears came true when the dough didn’t rise in an hour like it said it would. Meh. I covered the dough and popped it in the corner, too disheartened to toss it in the bin straight away. I’m not sure if there is something such as long-acting yeast but clearly I had that version, because 24 hours later I had what I thought was dough for at least 100 pizzas. So we had a lot of pizza that night. And that week.

I rolled, topped and baked as many pizzas as we could eat. But, despite the wonderful dough, I was naturally reluctant to make it again because that would mean when we felt like pizza, I would have to have envisaged that craving 24 hours prior, so the dough would be ready in time.  Uh-Uh.

 

The YEEHAH moment however, is when I discovered this thin-crust pizza dough which doesn’t need to rise so there is no wait time – okay maybe 5 minutes or so but that’s it.

 

 

And then I also discovered a homemade pizza base recipe SECRET. Maybe it is not such a secret and I am the only one who doesn’t know this but, I tried this and it was amazing –  the secret to a good base is to bake it for 3-4 minutes at 220C before adding your toppings.  Just a little blitz in the oven, gives the base a chance to cook and get crispy before adding the toppings.

I noticed that when I got pre-made bases from a local pizza outlet, they seemed slightly hard/crispy yet not browned. I then realised that they had been slightly cooked which de-activates the yeast and the bases remain at that thickness or thinness.

We often just have Margherita pizzas so the time needed for the base to cook through is often longer than the time needed for the cheese to melt and brown – so this little trick has made a big difference to pizza yumminess. This may not apply if you have a pizza oven or ceramic stone, but for the oven, it is GREATO!!!

And then, if you really start getting into this pizza thing, the flour choice makes a difference. I mix bread flour and 00 flour in a 1:1 ratio for that ultimate chewy but crispy crust.

Just a little note on tomato base – its passata guys. Not paste or puree. You can get it from Checkers or Woolies and they come in lovely glass jars.

How juicy and YUMMY does this pizza look?? Homemade pizzas are the best. We went out for dinner a few weeks ago and the kids wanted pizzas (surprise surprise) and when the pizzas arrived, I overheard my eldest complaining to my hubby that they didn’t taste like “mom’s pizza”. I was secretly like, YASSSSSSS!!

Throw some Basil on the pizza for a dash of green and extra flavour.

The pizza dough itself!! This recipe makes 2 pizza bases.

 

And if you love pizza and cheese and tomato and keen for another easy dinner for your kids or a snack for a party, you have to try these Cheese & Sundried Tomato Pinwheels. Delish!!

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZAS (VIDEO)

 

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