I have always loved a good pizza and I like mine thin crust not the pan crust, thick crust or filled with cheese kind of crust. Just plain old traditional thin crust and a little bit crispy covered with lots of toppings.
Pizza is Italian fast food, quite often eaten as a snack or for a meal with a side plate of salad. It is basically flat bread covered a red or white sauce with your favourite toppings and olive oil. The men in my house usually love their pies with lots of protein aka MEAT ;-) thus the boyfriend pizza hahaha! This pizza is full of meaty flavours and the spicy tomato sauce just rounds it up very nicely.
With Singapore's National Day approaching, what better way to celebrate the nation's 51st birthday with a red and white colour theme pizza? Make this for the National Day holiday and your loved ones would love you to bits!
Makes 3 Thin Crust Pizza
Pizza Dough Ingredients
4 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Sea Salt
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Yeast dissolved in
1 3/4 Cup Warm Water
1/4 Cup Olive Oil (plus more for the pizza pans)
Method
Dissolve the yeast and honey in warm water. Set aside.
Mix the flour and all the ingredients in a mixer with a dough hook on medium speed till the dough pulls away from the mixing bowl.
Let the dough rest in a lightly oiled bowl and covered with a damp cloth for an hour.
Cut into 3 equal parts for use.
Always oil the pizza pan with olive oil and more on the dough before assembling the ingredients.
Toppings
24 slices Beef Salami
Beef Meatballs, cut into small bite size pieces
30 Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Big Yellow Onion, cut into 1/2" thick slices
Spicy Tomato Sauce
1 can Contina Pizza Sauce
1 Red Onion, Finely Chopped
5 Cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Butter or 1 Tbsp Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp Olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 Degrees Celsius.
Make the pizza dough & set aside.
In a frying pan, heat up some olive oil, sauté the onion and a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes. Half way though, add in the garlic and sauté till soft.
Now, add in the red chilli flakes and sauté for 1 minute. Add in the pizza sauce and mix in the brown sugar and bring it to a gentle boil on low fire. Add in the butter/cream. Let it cool.
Pour a little olive oil over the pizza pan and spread it around evenly. To assemble the pizza, take 1/3 of the dough and place it in the centre of the pizza pan. Using your fingers and with the heel of the palm, starts pressing out the dough around and to the edge of the pan. Making sure it is even and thin. Drizzle the surface with a bit more olive oil.
Spread some of the pizza sauce all over the dough and start layering with the meatballs, Parmesan, mozzarella, the rest of the ingredients with the salami slices last.
Top it off with a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or till pizza dough is nicely browned.
Author's Notes
The dough recipe is great for both thin and thick crust pizzas.
You can make the pizza sauce ahead of time, it keeps well in the fridge up to 1 week.
You can substitute the meatballs with Italian Sausages by removing the skin and pinch the fillings into meatballs for the topping.