Jalapeno & pineapple pizza

I have always enjoyed baking but never baked much earlier on. However, the last 2 years baking has pretty much become a weekly affair. I love the smell of the house when something fresh is baked in the house.  People in my house including me are always on a diet restriction excepting Dinesh & Adya :). D isn’t too keen on the desserts I bake since they are mostly chocolate based. So if I wanna make something sweet for D, it has to be some strawberry blah & so far, I have been compensating by making savoury bakes :). This pizza is one such. I started making pizzas at home from scratch around a year (max year and a half) back. I have been regularly making them now & I can happily say I have perfected the art of making homemade pizzas. I have no issues with getting the dough to raise, no issues in getting a nice round shape (I bought a round wooden pizza board :D), I bake the base separately initially for 10 minutes to ensure the base is properly cooked (sometimes, putting it altogether first up & baking together ends up in a soggy pizza) & I put a generous amount of cheese (if I know prior that I am making pizzas, I buy fresh moz). My family is perennially on a diet control but cheese restriction isn’t a part of that weirdly :D. My fil almost always comments that there isn’t enough cheese on the pizza I make. When I made these pineapple & jalapeno pizzas for D (his favorite combo in pizzas), I made sure I put a generous amount of cheese. This pizza was absolutely delectable. My mom tasted my homemade pizza for the first time & she liked it so much. She has asked me to make it once for her before she leaves to India this time & she has asked me to make it for lunch so that she can eat it properly with no reservations (how cute is that?! also, complements like these are the bestest). Anywho, I wanted to blog a proper pizza done from scratch. You can play around with the toppings.

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Jalapeno & pineapple pizza

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Passive Time

1 hr

 

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 1 large pizza

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp instant dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/2+1/8 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup pasta/ pizza sauce
• 150 grams mozarella cheese
• 1/2 cup toppings (a mix of jalapeno, pineapples, onions & olives diced)
• 1 tsp dried oregano

Instructions

1. In a wide bowl, throw in all the dry ingredients - flour, instant dry yeast, sugar & salt. Mix well with a fork. 

2. bake base for 10 mins & then with sauce for 8 minutes & then again with veggies for 10 mins & grill for 3-4 minutes. If it's a thinner pizza, then the base baking time might be less. 

3. To this, add all the wet ingredients now - warm water & olive oil. Knead well to form a smooth pliable dough. 

4. Coat with some oil/ water & cover with a lid. Set it aside for the dough to rise. 

5. After an hour, you will see the dough would have doubled in its quantity. 

6. Punch the air out of the risen dough & spread it on a pizza base/ tray using your hands/ rolling pin. 

7. Poke some holes on it using a fork & bake the base in a preheated oven of 200c for 10 minutes. 

8. Take the base out & pour and spread the pizza sauce & bake for an additional 7-8 minutes. 

9. Top the pizza now with all cheese & veggies. Also sprinkle the italian seasoning & a bit of salt on top (for the veggies). 

10. Bake for another 10 minutes. 

11. I also grill the pizza (top down mode) for 3-4 minutes to get the golden coat on top of the pizza. 

12. At this stage, your pizza is done (it will literally be bubbling hot). Take it out & let it rest for 2 minutes. 

13. Cut into pieces & serve hot! Yummmmm. 

Recipe Notes

1. If while kneading the dough, you think it's a little watery, add more flour. If a little dry, add more water. 
2. I place the dough bowl inside a microwave oven (after heating the oven for a minute). The dough rises well in a warm place. 
3. Add only 1/2 cup water at first while kneading the dough. Each flour's consistency is different. For the flour we buy, I need 1/2 + 1/3 cup water. 
4. I have detailed about the top-down & bottom-up heating in my oven in this post. 

Stepwise pictures

In a wide bowl, place all the dry ingredients – flour, salt, sugar, yeast & give it a quick mix.

Pour in all wet ingredients now – warm water & olive oil.

Knead into a smooth pliable dough. Punched in a few holes to show the smooth consistency.

Coat the dough with some water/ olive oil & close with a lid. Set it aside. I keep it in a microwave so that the dough rests in a warm place.

After an hour of resting, the dough would have risen to double it’s original quantity. Punch this a few times & roll the pizza out.

Spread the dough onto a pizza base/ tray. I use my hands to spread the pizza dough. You can use a rolling pin as well.

Punch in a few holes using a fork.

Bake in a preheated oven of 200c for 10 minutes.

At this stage, the base would have been cooked to a certain extent. Pour & spread the pizza sauce & bake for 7-8 minutes.

Add the cheese on at this stage.

Add the toppings – in my case I added pineapple, olives & onions. I also sprinkled some italian seasoning & a bit of salt on top (for the veggies).

Bake for another10 minutes.

I did a top-down grill for another 3-4 minutes to get the golden brown coat on top.

Slice into pieces & dig in to the oozy goozy yumminess!