Food : Authentic Italian Pizza

Food lovers go crazy with Italian cuisine, where simple dishes,high-quality ingredients & lots of passion rule the table. It’s all about ingredients; it’s not fussy & fancy. Spending 5 days in Italy has given me an insight into – why everyone should get on the thin-crust, pie as big as your face, pizza making bandwagon.

Nothing can beat the simple Italian classic pizza. Of course,the beauty of pizza lies in the limitless opportunities for creativity with the toppings. Try topping your own pizza with lots of eatable stuff. These recipes do not come with a manual. To put it better, these so called creative recipes are more like a blind fold test for the blogger in me.
Adding something to these recipes from your very own kitchen would surely drive your husband nuts;). Italian Pizzas are finger licking good and are easy to make, i don’t need to rack my brain over whether the flavours go together or if the result would be edible.

Here is the recipe of authentic Italian pizza with different type of standard Italian toppings commonly found in Italy to get started & inspire your own creations. Once you have mastered making your own pizza dough at home ,the real fun begins-exploring all the endless types you can make.

Margherita pizza(triumph of Italian cuisine in the world)

Prep time-2 hrs / Cook time-10min / Total time-2:10 min

Ingredients-
1. For Base making
2 cups -All purpose flour
2 tbsp-olive oil
2 tbsp-yeast
1cup-luke warm water
Salt-1/2 tbsp

2. For Topping
Canned tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Crushed basil leaves

3. Seasoning
Oregano
Chilly flakes

Directions:-
Step 1- Place all the ingredients of pizza base in a bowl & after mixing all the ingredients knead the dough vigorously for about 10-15 min until it becomes soft & smooth.

Step 2- Shape the dough in a ball form & keep it in a air tight container for about 2 hrs & let it rise & become doubled in volume.

Step 3- Once the dough is doubled in volume divide it into 2 equal loaves,take each loave & give it a round shape chapati form flattening them using your fingers.

Step 4-Use a ladle or spoon & apply good amt of canned tomato sauce all over the base,spread lots of mozzarella cheese over the base torn into pieces & sprinkle basil leaves over the topping.Don’t forget to drizzle it with few drops of olive oil to make it more crunchy.

Step 5-Pre-heat the oven at 180 C for 10-15 min,once the oven is pre-heated place it in the oven for 8-10 min at 250 C.

Step 6- Once the pizza is ready,garnish it with pizza seasoning & serve immediately.

Pizza ai Funghi(Pizza with Mushrooms)
Mushrooms are always a favourite,& the most imp thing to get it right is to always saute the mushrooms before putting them on pizza. When you bake the mushrooms raw, they will release a lot of liquid that will make your pizza soggy. For addtional flavour saute it with garlic & parsley.

Ingredients

1. For topping:-
200grams sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp- fresh flatleaf parsley chopped
Salt & black pepper
4 tbsp-olive oil
Canned tomato sauce

Directions:-
Step1- For base making the same process is followed as in margherita.

Step 2-Heat 4tbsp olive oil in a non-stick pan & saute mushrooms for a few minute over high heat until they start to color.

Step3-Add parsley & garlic & season with salt & black pepper.continue to saute until it becomes golden brown& most of the liquid is evaporated.

Step 4- Pat dry with tissue paper to remove extra oil.

Step 5- spread the tomato mixture on the base,add mushrooms in a single layer & dot with mozzarella.

Step 6- Place it in a oven at 250 C for about 10-15 min until the crust is golden brown & the cheese is bubling.Once the pizza is ready garnish it with oregano & serve immediately.

Pizza quattro Formaggi (“four cheese pizza”, tomatoes, and the cheeses mozzarella, stracchino, fontina and gorgonzola; sometimes ricotta is swapped for one of the latter three)

Did you just have a foodgasm?If not do try these recipes at home & i guarantee you will have one when it hits your tongue.