Tandoori Paneer Pizza

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Thanks all of you for your responses to the two questions that I had asked in my last post. I enjoyed reading  all your comments and descriptions on both the tandoori sauce guessing game and how puffed rice is made.Amy shared a youtube link in the previous post on how the Chinese make puffed rice. It was a very interesting video, thanks Amy for sharing it with me. I have uploaded the video here if any of you are interested in seeing this video. 

For those of you who played along on the guessing game, the title of this post has already given away the answer on what I did with the tandoori sauce. My blog friends Deepa, Harini-Jaya and Sowmya, you can all take a bow because you all guessed the answer correctly. When I visited India last year, I tasted a tandoori pizza at a local Pizza hut that I really liked. I have been wanting to recreate that pizza since I got back. This is my take on that pizza. This pizza turned out fabulously, the tandoori sauce and the paneer added a very unique and interesting flavor to the pizza . Since I made the sauce ahead, it also took very little time to assemble this pizza. So if your weekend plans include pizza, do give this pizza a try and let me know what you think about it :-)



Click here for a printable view of the Tandoori Paneer Pizza

Ingredients and Method to make Tandoori Pizza
1 red onion cut lengthwise
1 green bell pepper (capsicum) deseeded and cut into thin long strips
2 cups of paneer cubes (Indian cottage cheese)  (Here is how you can make your own paneer)
2 cups of other vegetables like peas and corn (optional)
Shredded cheese as required
Tandoori sauce as required ( I used approx half the quantity of sauce made as per this recipe)
Pizza base as required ( I used approximately 3- 8 inch oat wheat pizza base made as per this recipe )
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 deg F

Apply tandoori sauce on the pizza base, followed by the shredded cheese, toppings and paneer cubes.

Place in the oven for approximately 20 mins or until the paneer and cheese have light brown spots on top of it.
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Remove, slice into wedges and serve hot with some red pepper flakes if you want.

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Pesto Pizza with Oat Wheat Crust

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Oat and Oat flour are fast becoming my favorite resource in baking breads. Oats,  in addition to being ultra healthy, add such a wonderful texture to bread. Also unlike whole wheat flour, oat flour does not seem to make the bread too dense and makes it easier to make bread healthier without compromising on the lightness of the bread. 

After having experimented with oat flour in loaf bread a few times, I thought of trying oat flour in pizza crust. I have also been wanting to try the idea of adding a small amount of cornmeal to the pizza crust, since I read somewhere, that doing so,  makes the crust a little more crunchy. The verdict....the pizza crust turned out fantastic, we loved it even more than the whole wheat crust I regularly make. The crust was slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just the way I like  it:-)    Try this if you are looking for a healthier alternative to the all purpose flour crust but find the whole wheat a little too dense for  your liking.

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and method for the crust

1 1/4 cup oat flour (I powdered Rolled Oats in my spice jar of my blender to get flour)

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1 tbsp active dry yeast

2 heaped tbsp cornmeal

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

For the pizza

2 tbsp pesto 

toppings according to choice (I used onions, mushrooms, bell pepper)

Crushed red pepper (according to taste) (Optional)

Shredded pizza blend cheese (a combination of cheddar and mozzarella) (according to taste) 

Mix the oat flour, wheat flour, all purpose flour, cornmeal, salt and Italian seasoning in a large bowl and keep aside

Place warm water in  a bowl add active dry yeast and sugar to it and mix well. Keep aside for about 5 to 10 minutes until it froths up.

Pour this water and warm milk as needed to knead into a soft pliable dough. Knead for about ten minutes.

Add olive oil to this and knead again for a few minutes.

Keep covered in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half. (I place this in my oven with the light on)

Remove, punch down gently and knead again for a minute or two and divide the dough into three parts and keep covered in a warm place to rise again.

Pre heat oven to 425 deg F

Roll the dough to required thickness and apply pesto sauce.

Top with toppings of choice and finally add grated cheese

Bake in oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and beginning to brown slightly.

Remove, cut into wedges and serve  hot.

This yielded me about 3 eight inch crusts of medium thickness.

Notes

You can use store bought oat flour instead of grinding rolled oats.

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Simple and Quick Whole Wheat Pizza

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The first time I made pizza from scratch including the crust was a long time back. In those halcyon college days when everything seemed adventurous and lack of ingredients or the long process involved did not faze me or my cousin who used to hang out with me and who joined me in my kitchen adventures.The first step in making the pizza involved a trip to various stores around our block armed with a long list of ingredients that included basics such as all purpose flour, yeast and marinara sauce, since all of these items were completely absent from my pantry in those days. My oven at that time was a tiny space ship shaped portable oven that had a small circular glass on the top that we would keep looking into to see how the baking was proceeding. Maybe it was beginners luck or maybe it was because we followed the recipe to the letter but our first attempt at pizza itself was a wonderful success.We thoroughly enjoyed both making and having it :-)



After that one time of making pizza from scratch, pizza has always meant either dine in or to go, until recently when I started making my own pizza base again.  After several attempts and experiments with varying  different quantities of flours, I now have a version that has become my go to version for whole wheat pizza.
Updated to add: I have now included bread machine instructions at the bottom of the recipe



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

For the crust.
2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida) (see notes)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour (optional, see notes)
2 heaped tbsp cornmeal (makkai ka atta)
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)
a little extra cornmeal for dusting.

For the toppings
Marinara sauce as required
choice of toppings (about 1 cup per pizza) (I have used any combination of onions, bell pepper (capsicum), mushrooms, jalapenos and pineapples during my various tries with this pizza and liked all versions)
Shredded Cheese as per choice
For cheese I tried a new type of grated cheese available in the grocery called pizza blend cheese which was a mixture of mozarella and cheddar, but you can use mozzarella cheese that is usually used in pizza too.
a little olive oil to apply on top (optional)
serve with a little crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Dissolve yeast + sugar in warm water and keep aside for 5 to 10 minutes until slightly frothy

In a large bowl mix together all the flours, salt and Italian seasoning

Add water with yeast and olive oil to the flour mixture and knead. Knead for a few minutes, apply a tsp of olive oil to it and keep aside in a warm place to rise for about an hour. (I placed it in my oven with the oven light on so that it would provide some warmth)

After the dough doubles, flatten it a little and divide into two or three balls. Let the divided dough rise again for about an hour.

Pre heat oven to 425 deg F. Roll one of the balls of dough into a thin crust or regular crust with a help of a little cornmeal if required.If you are adventurous you could try tossing the dough to stretch it or use your fists to stretch and shape the dough too, I just rolled it out normally this time :-)

Once rolled out, brush on a little olive oil on top, then spread marinara sauce as required.

Add cheese as required, then toppings as per choice.
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Bake in the oven for about 20 mins to 25 mins depending on thickness until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and slightly golden on the top. Sprinkle a few crushed red pepper flakes on top (optional) and enjoy the pizza while still hot.

If not using all the dough refrigerate the balance dough for a day or two and remove and use as required.

Yield will depend on thickness and size of crust. (I have gotten about 3 personal sized pizzas with this quantity or one extra large pizza base depending on how I rolled it out )

Notes: I have made this with all whole wheat flour too in the past, but find that a combination of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and vital wheat gluten gives me the best results. If you get whole wheat bread flour that would be a good choice to use for this base, and you can skip the vital wheat gluten flour. Also you can reduce the all purpose flour to 1/2 cup and increase the quantity of whole wheat flour by the same quantity.

Bread machine instructions
Place all the ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified in the manual. Mine specifies, liquids first, then dry ingredients and lastly yeast. I used 1 tbsp bread machine yeast, and skipped the italian seasoning entirely. Set the bread machine to dough cycle, when completed, remove and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

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