Thin Crust Pesto Pizza

Pizzas are quite popular among all the age groups because of its rich cheesy taste and of course how can someone say no to this cheesy treat until and unless they are diet conscious.Even in India in recent years it has become quite common in the menu for birthday parties, marriages, functions and it is also included in the road side food category as well, though the pizzas we get there are no where compared in taste to the ones we get in Domino's or pizza hut/corner or pizzeria etc.But I definitely enjoyed those road side/fast food joint pizzas during my school and college days when I really did not know much about the most authentic ones.When I got introduced to the real taste of pizzas I was hooked to the taste of it and I never looked back to eat those fast food joint pizzas.

Now with the introduction of various International Chains like California Pizza Kitchen,Indigo etc in India people are very much hooked to the International style and taste of Pizzas.We definitely love all these different varieties of pizzas either from Pizza hut/Domino's,etc or the ones from CPK/Indigo,etc.Even these big pizza joints have come up with lots of new flavors to satisfy our Indian taste buds with the special toppings of paneer along with the mexican style, salad style and the regular Italian style(and of course many more variations) with the option of our preferences for toppings and various types of cheese.Along with various choice of toppings,now even different variations of crusts are available like thin,thick,cheese burst,wheat according to our preference and thin crust is always we prefer among all.

I thoroughly enjoy all the toppings but hubby dear has a special liking for paneer and hence we always look for pizzas with paneer topping while ordering a pizza.I even mentioned about his love for pesto in many of my previous posts and you all must be knowing about it.So with all these personal preferences I can say a basic thin crust pizza with pesto sauce and paneer being one of the toppings would definitely be a perfect treat for my husband.I generally marinate the paneer in pesto sauce to enhance the flavor of it though it is optional,but it will definitely make those paneer pieces extra flavorful.If I make regular marinara sauce for pizza then I go for marinated tandoori paneer as a topping which really enhances the taste of pizza.

Ingredients:
for thin crust pizza base:
1 1/2 all purpose flour(I used 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup(125ml) water
1 1/2 tsp instant active dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp honey
1 tbsp Olive oil(EVOO)
salt to taste(approx 1 tsp)

for basil pesto sauce:(refer my earlier post or below)
100gms,roughly 2-3 cups loosely packed fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil(EVOO)
1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
3-4 garlic pods
1/2 tsp roughly ground pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt to taste

toppings I have used:
1/2 cup fresh paneer cubes (marinated in a tbsp of basil pesto sauce for 1hr)
3-4 baby corns,slit into lengthy
1 onion,cubed
1/4 cup mixed bell peppers,cubed
10-12 black olives,pickled
10-12 green olives,pickled
15-20 cherry tomatoes,halved
mozzarella cheese

other toppings suggestions:
zucchini
asparagus,tinned
mushrooms,sliced

to serve:
few basil leaves,sliced thin
dried oregano
red chili flakes
Tabasco sauce


Method:

for basil pesto:

• In a mixer add washed and drained basil leaves,pine nuts/walnuts,garlic pods,pepper,add half the quantity of olive oil,lemon juice,Parmesan cheese,salt and ground to a medium coarse paste.Add the remaining olive oil in stages in between to ease the process of grinding.Do not add water to grind it,the EVOO and lemon juice them selves are enough to grind into a uniform paste.
• Now check for the taste and adjust the salt for the pesto.

for pizza dough:

• Take water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds until luke warm.Stir in sugar,honey,EVOO(oil) and yeast until it is dissolved well properly and let it proof for 10 mins.Keep it in a warm place.
• Sieve the flour(if using whole wheat flour sieve even that) along with salt and place this in a wide bowl.Make a well in between and pour in the yeast mixture and mix with a whisk or a spoon until you get a lump of dough.
• Knead the dough until you get a smooth,elastic dough.It takes nearly 3-4 mins.
• Place this in a bowl coated with oil and cover with cling wrap and place it in a warm place for 2 hrs.It would have doubled in size by then.
• Punch in and knead again for a minute and take a big orange sized ball.You will generally get two medium size pizzas.

assembling and baking pizza:

• Preheat the oven at 220 deg for 8-10 mins.
• Pinch in a big orange size dough and make a nice ball out of it.
• Sprinkle flour over the surface and roll the pizza into thin medium round size using a rolling pin.I generally keep the edges slightly thicker than in the center.You can even roll it into oval or square or rectangle and use the baking pan accordingly
  
• Place this carefully on a baking mat/ pizza stone/ pizza mesh.
  
• Prick it with a fork in a couple of places.At this stage you can bake it for a couple of minutes or you can avoid it and proceed further with layering the vegetables.I personally feel if we bake it before the center portion will not turn soggy and as it is thin crust this problem would not be there.
• Spread the pesto sauce over it leaving a quarter inch from the corners.
• If you want you can add a thin layer of grated mozzarella cheese,anyways it is absolutely optional to add at this stage.
• Arrange the toppings how ever you want and add grated cheese over the top and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 mins until the base is crisp and the cheese is melted and slightly browned.
• Remove it from the oven using a spatula preferably a metal one and slice it using a pizza cutter and serve it hot.

Garnish with your favorite seasonings like red chili flakes, oregano,thinly sliced basil and Tabasco sauce.Needless to say that serve these hot pizzas with ice cold aerated drinks like coke/Pepsi/lemonade/flavored soda as they go very well with each other.
I do not prefer serving pesto pizzas with tomato sauce and I always prefer Tabasco sauce with it,but if you are serving this for kids they might enjoy with tomato sauce.

Notes:

• The toppings are left to your preference completely,you can add more or you can remove few in those mentioned toppings.Add according to your preference and taste.
• If you have people in the house who are particular about few toppings,you can add the desired toppings on equal halves of the pizza and eat your respective portions.
• As I did not have mozzarella at that time,I used another local pizza cheese variety for this.