Many people can enjoy a tasty pizza from time to time. However, pizzerias are often pricey, and frozen pizzas are soggy and unhealthy. Fortunately, it is very easy to make a pizza yourself! Fun to do with children and full control over what goes and what doesn’t go in and on the pizza. Perfectly adaptable to different diets! A number of possible variants are pizzas topped with tuna, broccoli and chicken, onion and bacon, and fruit.
The bottom
Every pizza starts with a bottom. You can buy this ready-made in most supermarkets, but it is more fun (and healthier) to make it yourself!
Ingredients for two bases:
- 250 grams of flour
- 3.5 grams of dried yeast (half a standard bag)
- A level teaspoon of sugar
- A level teaspoon of salt
- A tablespoon of olive oil
- 165 ml lukewarm water
Some dried yeasts need to be activated first. This is usually indicated on the packaging. If necessary, take part of the lukewarm water (about half a cup), add the level teaspoon of sugar, stir and let stand for ten minutes. After ten minutes the yeast is activated and ready for use. If the packaging indicates that the yeast is immediately ready for use, it does not need to be activated. If the packaging does not indicate whether or not to activate the yeast, still follow the activation process as described above.
After activating the yeast, yeast, flour, water, sugar (if not already in the yeast), olive oil and water can be added together. Mix this mixture well and add the salt when the other ingredients are well mixed. This is essential because salt destroys yeast cells. Direct contact between salt and yeast is therefore disastrous. After mixing the ingredients, the salt can be added without immediately destroying all yeast cells.
The dough should now be kneaded until it is smooth. This can take up to half an hour, depending on the expertise (and muscle strength!) Of the person kneading. When the dough is sufficiently kneaded, a piece of dough can be stretched until light shines through, without tearing. When the dough is well kneaded, it must rise in a bowl and covered with a wet tea towel until it is twice its size. This will take about an hour. Roll out the bottom until it has a round shape and roll up the edges slightly.
Investing: tuna
In this first variant, the pizza is topped with tuna and capers. The tuna can also be replaced by salami, for example.
Ingredients for two pizzas:
- Tomato sauce or tomato paste
- Tuna
- Maize
- Capers
- Mozzarella in slices or strips
- Italian herbs (a standard mix, or oregano, basil and thyme)
- Olive oil
Brush the bottom with olive oil. This prevents the tomato sauce from soaking into the base, making it limp. Then brush the bottom with tomato sauce / tomato puree and sprinkle with the herbs. Cover generously with tuna, corn, capers and mozzarella. Lightly drizzle the pizza with a little more olive oil. Bake the pizza at 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Investing: broccoli and chicken
This variant is a pizza topped with broccoli and chicken. Keep in mind that the chicken must be seared before it goes into the oven.
Ingredients for two pizzas:
- A chicken fillet in strips
- A stump of broccoli cut into 2 cm pieces
- BBQ sauce
- Two medium onions cut into strips
- 4 cloves of garlic, cubed
Put the chicken strips in a grill pan and grill over high heat until the chicken is cooked all around but not cooked through. Brush the pizza base with olive oil. This prevents the BBQ sauce from soaking into the bottom, making it soft. Then brush the bottom with BBQ sauce. Top with the chicken, broccoli, onion and garlic. Bake at 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Investing: onion and bacon
This quick, simple variation on the classic pizza is made with lots of onion and bacon.
Ingredients for two pizzas:
- 6 onions in rings
- 100 grams of bacon strips
- Creme fraiche
- Pepper and salt
Mix the crème fraîche with salt and pepper and brush the bottom with the mixture. Place the onion and bacon on top and bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.
Investing: fruit
A nice alternative to the savory pizza: a fruit pizza. The fruits below are suggestions; in principle any type of fruit can be used. Remember: some types of fruit release a lot of moisture, which can cause a weak bottom. Optionally, the base can be enriched with butter (or even made from cookie dough), but a standard base tastes just as good!
Ingredients for two pizzas:
- One container of sour cream
- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 sachet of vanilla sugar (or 1 vanilla pod)
- 1 tablespoon of cane sugar
- 2 apples
- 2 handfuls of blueberries
- 1 mango
- 1 banana
Bake the bottom at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. Meanwhile, mix the sour cream with the caster sugar and vanilla sugar (or the pith from the vanilla pod). When the bottom has cooled, it can be brushed with the sour cream. Then top the pizza with slices of apple, blueberries, mango slices and banana slices. Sprinkle with cane sugar and put the pizza in the oven at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
