Hawaiian Pizza 夏威夷柀薩

It has been a while since I last made pizza. My previous attempt at making one was also my first and all I can remember was how clumsy I was when rolling out the pizza dough into a perfect round disc. In the end, I didn't quite achieve the outlook I was hoping for, but, I did receive compliments from the people who tasted it. They love the crust as well as the combination of ingredients in it.

Last week when my buddies came over to Jakarta for a visit, I was once again confronted with the challenge to revisit the dread of making the dough. As I don't recall which and whose pizza recipe I adopted during my first pizza attempt, I randomly settled for a recipe from 周老师的美食教室𥚃的"天然手作麵包101道" for the pizza dough.

As written in her book, pizza making is relatively easy and simple. The crucial part lies more on having a high heating oven as the minimum temperature for pizza baking is 250C degrees. To produce crispier pizza dough with soft inner texture, the pizza would have to be baked at higher temperature with short baking time. And true to her word, the making of pizza dough is simple and not as time consuming as bread making does.

Classic pizza recipes suggested using mozzarella cheese as toppings, I opted for lighter cheddar cheese. Since the baking time only took 5 mins, be sure to use the 'quick melting' cheddar cheese or one might end up with toasted looking grated cheese spread over the pizza dough.

Pizza Dough

基本披萨面团

160g Water

3g Fast Acting Dry Yeast

300g Plain Flour

15g Castor Sugar

3g Salt

30g Olive Oil


Toppings

Mozzarella / Kraft Quick Melt Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Mayonnaise
Tomato Paste / Puree / Tomato Ketchup
Pineapples (diced or thinly cut)
Canned Tuna (shredded)
Olives (optional)
Button mushrooms (thinly sliced)
Red / Green Capsicum (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Combine  all ingredients (except oil) into a mixing bowl to form a rough dough. 

Add oil and continue kneading by hand for 10-15 mins until a soft pliable dough is formed.

Mould the dough round. Transfer the dough into a bowl and cover with cling wrap. 

Allow the dough to proof for an hour or until it doubled in size. 

Punch down the dough. Divide dough into 2 equal portions and mould it round. I only use 1 portion and store the other portion in the fridge for later use (This recipe is sufficient for making 1 pc of 12" pizza. I opted to make it into 2 pcs of half size ( 6") pizza as the pizza was for my buddy's 5 year old son).

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a 6-7" round disc. Fold and seal in the uneven edges (if any) along the perimeter of the dough to create a 10-12mm thick border.

Preheat the oven at 250C degrees for at least 20 mins before baking.

Apply mayonnaise onto pizza dough. Sprinkle and arrange tuna, pineapple, mushrooms and any accompanying ingredients of your choice over the pizza dough. Lightly drizzle tomato ketchup over the toppings and lastly sprinkle grated cheddar cheese all over the top.

Alternatively you may also start with applying tomato paste / puree as the first layer over the pizza dough. Sprinkle and arrange tuna, pineapple, mushrooms and any accompanying ingredients of your choice over the pizza dough. Lightly drizzle the mayonnaise over the toppings and lastly sprinkle grated cheddar cheese all over the top. Its entirely free flow, as in this case the pizza might turned out reddish and darker shade than the earlier suggestion.  Should you use mozzarella cheese in this case, the reddish color would be less prominent.

Bake at 250C degrees for 5-7 mins or until the edges turn slightly brown.

Note : 

I wrapped and stored the balance 1/2 portion of the pizza dough in the fridge overnight and brought it back to room temperature prior to use on the following day.