Home-Made Veg Pizza (Indian Style)

Making Pizza at home is extremely easy. In Germany, the availability of ingredients needed to make it and an oven installed in every kitchen make it seem very doable. Today, I’m sharing the recipe for veg pizza, made with all the locally available ingredients in Germany. This is not an authentic Italian Pizza recipe. This Pizza is more suited for Indian tastes as it is a little spicy. For making veg Pizza- Indian style, we need:

Ingredients needed for making 2 Large Pizzas / 3 medium Pizzas:

For the Dough

1. All-purpose Flour (I used Pizzamehl): 500 gm
2. Instant dry yeast: 1 packet, i.e., 7 gm ( if you use fresh yeast, use 21gm).
3. Sugar: 1.5 teaspoons
4. Salt: 1.5 teaspoons
5. Olive Oil: 1 tablespoon
6. Water: About 200 ml
   
   
   

For the Toppings:

1. Veggies: ( Onion, Tomato, Mushroom, Zucchini, olives, etc.): About 3 cups.
2. Cheese: 250 gm
3. Salt: To sprinkle
4. Black pepper: To sprinkle
5. Oregano: To sprinkle
6. Rocket Salad: a few

For the Sauce:

1. Canned tomatoes: 1 can
2. Crushed Garlic: 1 tablespoon
3. Butter: 1 teaspoon
4. Dry Basil: 1/2 teaspoon
5. Tomato ketchup: 1 teaspoon
6. Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
7. Black pepper: 1/ teaspoon
8. Tobasco: 1 teaspoon
9. Red chili Flakes: 1 teaspoon

Recipe for making Veg Pizza-Indian style:

1. Combine yeast and sugar. Add 1/2 cup water and let the yeast activate by leaving it aside for 2 minutes.
   
2. Now take flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt and mix.
   
3. Add the yeast and sugar mixture, followed by water, and knead it into a smooth dough.
   
4. Add oil and knead once more.
   
5. Now, round the dough and rest it in a warm place for an hour. After an hour, the dough will rise.
   
6. Now, prepare the pizza plates. Brush oil and dust flour. We are doing this so that the pizza doesn’t get stuck to the surface after baking. Note: the Pizza plate I have used has a diameter of 30 cm.
   
7. Now divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll the dough and lay them on the pizza plates. If you want a thinner crust, divide the dough into 3 parts and spread the rolled dough on the pizza plates.
   
8. Let it rest in a warm place for at least 30 minutes.
9. While the dough is resting, chop and prepare all the veggies.
   
10. For the sauce, take a pan, and add butter. Fry garlic and then add all the rest of the ingredients. Cook till the sauce reduces a bit.
    
11. After the sauce is made, let it cool completely before you spread it on the rolled dough. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 minutes.
12. Now, take out the pizza plates with the rolled dough. Spread the sauce, followed by veggies.
    
13. Top it with cheese. Sprinkle, salt, pepper, and Oregano
    
14. Bake the Pizza at 200 deg C for 25 minutes. If you have made 3 pizzas out of this dough, your base would be thinner. In that case, bake for 20 minutes.
    
15. Take out the baked pizzas and top them with rocket salad.
    
    
    Cut into triangular slices and serve.
    

Some notes for my readers in Germany:

1. You can find Pizzamehl (Pizza Flour) in the supermarket very easily. I have used that in the recipe.
   
2. I have used instant dry yeast. Yeast is called Hefe in German. You get in a pack of multiple 7gm packets in german supermarkets. You need one such pack of 7gm for the recipe. You also get fresh yeast in the refrigerator section. That is usually a 42gm pack. You can use half of it if you prefer using fresh yeast. Remember that for any bread recipe, 7gm of dry yeast can be replaced with 21 gm of fresh yeast ( 1 pack of dry yeast=1/2 pack of fresh yeast).
   
3. I have used fresh vegetables for the recipe. But if you choose, you can even use canned veggies. In german supermarkets, you will easily get canned mushrooms, corn, etc.
4. In the sauce, I have used canned tomatoes with garlic for this recipe. In the german supermarket, you can find canned tomatoes combined with garlic, and the words you need to look for are: ‘Tomatenmark mit Knoblauch.’ If you don’t get it, you can buy ‘Tomatenmark’ (Tomatenmark means tomato paste), add garlic as mentioned in the ingredients list, and make the sauce. You can skip adding extra garlic if you get canned tomatoes with garlic.
5. You can buy ready-made pizza sauce if you don’t want to make the sauce. If you find it bland, you can add spices to your taste
   
6. For the topping, I have used Pizza cheese. If you prefer mozzarella, you can get that easily in the german supermarket.
   
7. Rocket Salad is called Rucola in German. I just added it on top for color and its mild flavor. Also, it was in season, so I added it. You can skip it if you like.
8. If you make this recipe in the summer, you can rest the dough on the kitchen counter. In winter, you can turn on the oven’s light ( just the light) and rest the dough inside the oven.

Some Notes for my readers in India:

1. For Flour, you can use the commonly available maida.
2. These days Pizza cheese is easily available in India. You can even use Amul cheese cubes, grate them and use them for this recipe.
3. For seasoning on top of the Pizza, you can use Pizza seasoning. I have tried it and would recommend it.
   
4. Rocket Salad is not commonly available in India. So, you can skip it.

To read about more such interesting and easy recipes, click here.

If you live in Germany and need help identifying and understanding products in the german supermarket, click here.