Thick Crust Smoked Chicken Pizza

My quest for the perfect thick pizza crust is finally over! After going though practically every book and magazines and searching online, and after much experiments, i have finally come up with my own mix. From now, it shall be my most favorite ever thick crust recipe =) While most of us at home prefer the thin crust to the thick, there is one picky eater who likes his crust nice and fluffy.

I always thought that pizza dough making was a very difficult process, but after many times of pizza making, I actually realized that, it is infact the easiest kind of bread to prepare and bake. Somehow, the fermentation process doesn't seem to take as long as it would for other breads. And i just knew this recipe wasn't going to disappoint me the moment i saw how the dough had doubled in size perfectly.

What i had learnt from the discovery of this recipe is the ratio of the flour used. For thick crust, you will need more bread flour than plain flour, or use bread flour all the way. And as for the thin crust, will need much more plain flour instead of bread flour. Like with a ration of 4:1. Plus, it also depends on how thin you are going to roll out the dough.

As of pizza toppings, the basic and in my opinion, compulsary toppings would first be thin slices of onions and tomatoes =) On this particular day, I topped it with smoked chicken, shitake mushrooms, capsicum and coriander. Of course, yummy gooey MOZZARELLA!!

Love using Prego's pasta sauce as my base spread

Thick Crust Pizza

Recipe yields 4 10inch crusts

Ingredients

600g bread flour (or 500g bread + 100g plain flour)

1tsp salt

1 packet instant yeast (11g)

A good sprinkle of sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

360ml lukewarm water

Garlic and herb infused olive oil, for drizzling on top

Method

1. In a large bowl, lightly whisk together all dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre, pour in water and olive oil. Mix ingredients with hand until a soft dough is formed.

2. Mix with hand till combined, turn out onto floured surface and start kneading for about 15-20 minutes. By now you should have a smooth and elastic dough.

3. Shape the dough into a smooth ball, and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest and rise to double it's size for about an hour.

4. Give the risen dough a light punch, knocking out its gas and turn out onto a floured surface. Give it a gentle knead for 5 seconds and divide dough into 4 portions (or as many as you want).

5. Place doughs on a lightly oiled tray, cover loosely with cling wrap and set aside to rest for 10 mins.

6. Preheat oven to 200 DegC. (My way of doing it) Press out each dough with hands to a certain thickness, then roll out with rolling pin to a nice round of 10inch in diameter. Place dough in a non stick pizza pan or on a greased baking pan.

7. Spread pasta sauce on on dough, sprinkle with cheese, top with rest of ingredients and further top with cheese. Drizzle with garlic oil.

8. Bake for about 20 mins or till sides of crust are lightly browned and cheese has melted to perfection.

9. Garnish with coriander and serve hot, BON APPETIT!