Homemade Veg Pizza / Paneer Tikka Pizza - Step by Step Recipe

Veg pizza in 2 versions (Normal & Low Fat)

I was postphoning this pizza post just for the reason that I had to write more ;) Also I wanted to compile all the pics with stepwise, and the variation that I had clicked each time I made Pizza. And with no doubt this recipe is a keeper but I made adjustments here and there each time and finally found the recipe for perfect pizzas, So no more pizzas from restaurants. I have tried with 2 different toppings and here am giving u both for normal as well as low fat version.

Pizza pics updated on 22/7/11

Ingredients for Normal Pizza : [Recipe Source - Raks Kitchen]

• All purpose flour/Maida - 1 & 1/2 cups [My 1 cup measures 200 gms]
• Active dry yeast - 1 tbsp [but not a heaped one]
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 tblsp
• Salt - 3/4 tsp
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp

For the topping :

• Pizza/Pasta Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Tomato Sauce - 1/2 tbsp
• Onion - 1/2 chopped
• Capsicum - 1/2 chopped
• Grated mozarella cheese - 2 tbsp or as required to cover the topping
• Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

For Paneer tikka marinating:

• Paneer - 10 to 12 small cubes
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Curd - 1.5 tbsp

Method:

Boil the water first in a wide vessel and keep aside. Now add milk, oil, sugar, salt to boiled water and mix well till sugar dissolves. Now add yeast to the milk oil solution.

Mix well and keep aside for 5-7 mins stirring occassionally. After sometime you can see the yeast completely dissolved as shown below. Now add the flour.

After adding the flour, gather to get a smooth pilable dough. No need to knead completely just bring it together that is enough.Keep covered with a wet cloth till an hour or 2, preferably in a warm place for best results.

When u check after an hr, the dough would have been raised(I wouldnt say its exactly doubled) .Now again punch it down incase for any airbubbles and then keep aside. By the time cut paneer into small cubes add curd, salt, turmeric, chilli, coriander, garam masala powder and lemon juice - Marinate it for 15mins. I usually dont roast the paneer seperately but attimes when I have time in hand I do it and yes this time I toasted it in a tawa with little oil till golden brown. You can also just keep the paneer along with the topping to bake without toasting.

Grease a baking tray with aluminium foil [I didnt dust flour or add oil] . Keep the dough on the tray, Now roll the dough a little thick as 1 to 1.5 inches and fold the ends as shown in the below pic. Just fold the ends inside and press it till u get a small depthness.Prick the base with fork to make sure of even cooking [I forget it everytime ;)]. Spread the pizza sauce, I used the readymade maggi pizza sauce.

Arrange the toppings - I've used paneer, capsicum and onion here.Then grate the cheese till it covers topping.Just add tomato sauce on top this is purely optional but it tastes good with it. Then sprinkle pepper powder. Preheat the oven for 210 degree Celsius and bake for 15- 20 mins,till the base turns golden brown.If you cut a tiny area with a knife, u can see if its cooked fully by seeing the bread like texture.Mine gets done usually in 20mins, check at 15mins then proceed with the extra 5mins.

Cut the pizzas with pizza cutter/knife, make wedges and enjoy hot and yummy pizza :)

The topping combination is endless.To me pizzas are only if they served from Pizzahut but sure homemade pizzas changed my mind :)

Low Fat Version Ingredients :

• Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• Maida - 1/2 cup
• Active dry yeast - 3/4 tblsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 tblsp
• Salt - 3/4 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp

For the topping:

• Tomato Sauce - 1tbsp
• Onion - 1 chopped
• Capsicum - 1/2 chopped
• Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder 1/2 tsp [You can alternatively use chilli flakes also]
• Cheese - 2 tsp grated
• Paneer cubes - 6 to 8

Low Fat version of Veg Pizza with thin crust/base

Except for the ingredients the method is the same just give an extra 3-5 mins while baking as wheat flour takes a little more time than maida.

My Notes :

• The dough shouldnt be sticky...if so then ur dough is watery so add in a little more flour. Give a slight press while arranging the topping, so that after baked the topping gets nicely blended with the base.



• It is again a no fail recipe.The only thing to keep in mind is the measurements and the yeast activeness.With the measurement specified above , u can make 2 thin crust pizzas too, it tastes equally gud. If you are opting for one then u will get a big pizza a little bigger in radius than the ones u get in pizzahut.



• I have tried with normal cube cheese but it never melts and spreads well like mozzarellacheese.If you use other cheese, it will sit in the place u have grated :)



• Usually I roll the dough in the baking tray with aluminium foil which I opt to place it in oven, this way its messfree as u need not transfer from one to another carefully.