Pizza with Cheesy Crust
This is my favorite pizza recipe: Pizza with cheesy crust. We used to have regular leftovers of crust and ended up throwing it away. I always thought that was too bad and a bit of a waste. Ever since I started rolling the feta into the crust, nothing is left over anymore. Problem solved. 🙂
There are so many ways to make pizza and I have tried a lot of them. Of course you can use the sore bought dough, but in my opinion it doesn’t taste as good. Making it yourself is the best and most tasty way, I think. The rising of the dough does take a little time, but it is well worth it. Quite a lot of other rising agents cause stomach discomfort with people, so now I am only using fresh yeast. The result is wonderful. The crust turns out light and fluffy and the taste is so much better. Make an entire baking tray and have a party 🙂
The very first thing to do is making the dough. Put the flour in a big bowl and make a little hollow in the middle. Crumble half of the yeast in, add the sugar and a little of the warm water (about 1/8 cup). Carefully stir the mixture adding a little flour from the side. Do not use all the flour, just a little bit as this is the pre-dough! The yeast will dissolve and it gets a little thicker. The sugar is food for the yeast. You won’t taste it later on. Now cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place. Let the pre-dough rise for about 30-45min.
After the pre-dough has risen, add all the other ingredients and the other half of the yeast. Knead it evenly. Now cover the bowl with the towel again and set aside in a warm place for 60min.
During the rising time we can prepare the other ingredients. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into pieces or halfs. When I get small tomatoes like cherry or mini-roma I like to leave a few tomatoes whole. The same with the olives. If you like champignons prepare them as well as any other topping you would like (brokkoli, onions,etc).
If you are short on time, of course you can use tomato sauce from a jar. But I like to make everything myself and that includes the sauce. Mince the onions and the garlic and brown both lightly with olive oil in a small or medium sized pot. Add the canned tomatoes. Let come to a boil once then turn down the heat to low. Add spices. Cook on low for the remainder of the time stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken up after a while which is what we want so it can be spread onto the rolled out pizza dough. Put aside.
Now cut the cooked chicken breast (cold cut or a piece) and the salami into bigger pieces.
Take the risen dough, knead it lightly and shape into a flat ball. Now roll it out. You can make a round pizza or a square one, the size of your baking tray. I usually cover the tray with baking paper and roll the dough out that, saving myself the transferrence. Do what works best for you.
Then cut the feta into thick slices and half the slices longways. Now you have feta sticks, sort of. Line the edge of the pizza with the feta sticks and fold the dough over. This makes the cheese filled crust. And only feta will withstand the heat. Other cheeses will melt into the dough and you will end up with a cheesy dough tube.
After that spread the tomato sauce evenly onto the pizza and add the toppings. Leftover feta gets crumbled over top of everything. Finally put the cheese over everything and bake at 430°F for 20min.
Enjoy your homemade Pizza with Cheesy Crust!
Pizza with Cheesy Crust
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups flour normal white
- 1/2 pck fresh yeast or one bag of dry yeast
- 6-8 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup warm water just warm not hot
- 1 tsp salt I use a spicy salt, take what you like best
- 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder optional but highly recommended
- 3 tbsp oregano dried
- 1/2 tsp pepper any type you like, I use garlic pepper
- 1/2 tsp sugar
Tomatoe Sauce
- 1/2 small onion minced
- 1/2 -1 clove garlic
- 14 ounce can of tomatoes
- italian spices fresh, frozen, freezer dried or dried – all works
- salt according to your taste, I also use spicy salt here
- pepper according to your taste, I use garlic pepper
Topping
- 1 pck chicken breast about 1/2 pound
- 1 pck salami 1/4 pound, use more if you like a lot of salami, beef salami is the best
- 1 pck cherry tomatos about 8 oz – actually any kind of tomatos will work cut into pieces
- 1/2 – 1 cup olives, halfed black or green, I prefer black
- 8 oz feta cheese in a block cow feta tastes the best, I think
- 8-16 oz graded cheese any type you like
- onions, brokkoli etc optional, use the toppings you prefer
Instructions
Making the Dough
- The very first thing to do is making the dough. Put the flour in a big bowl and make a little hollow in the middle. Crumble half of the yeast in, add the sugar and a little of the warm water (about 1/8 cup). Carefully stir the mixture adding a little flour from the side. Do not use all the flour, just a little bit as this is the pre-dough! The yeast will dissolve and it gets a little thicker. The sugar is food for the yeast. You won't taste it later on. Now cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place. Let the pre-dough rise for about 45min.
- After the pre-dough has risen, add all the other ingredients and the other half of the yeast. Knead it evenly. Now cover the bowl with the towel again and set aside in a warm place for 60min.
Making the Tomato Sauce
- While the dough is rising, make the tomato sauce. Mince the onions and the garlic and brown both lightly with olive oil in a small or medium sized pot. Add the canned tomatoes. Let come to a boil once then turn down the heat to low. Add spices. Cook on low for the remainder of the time stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken up after a while which is what we want so it can be spread onto the rolled out pizza dough.
Putting the Pizza Together
- Take the risen dough, knead it lightly and shape into a flat ball. Now roll it out. You can make a round pizza or a square one, the size of your baking tray. I usually cover the tray with baking paper and roll the dough out that, saving myself the transferrence. Do what works best for you.
- Now prepare the toppings. Wash the veggies and cut everything into pieces: Chicken breast, salami, tomatoes, onions
- Cut the feta into thick slices and half the slices longways. Now you have feta sticks, sort of. Line the edge of the pizza with the feta sticks and fold the dough over.
- Now spread the tomato sauce evenly and add the toppings. Leftover feta gets crumbled on top of it.
- Finally put the cheese over everything and bake at 430°F for 20min. Enjoy your homemade pizza!
