No Yeast? No Problem! I Would Still Bake My Pizza And Have It Too

Last week was crazy; long working hours, even longer working days for my husband and hence I thought it deserved an epic ending. So, knowing me, what better way to do that than a pizza dinner at home, watching movies on TV?

We’ve been eating out a lot these days; especially the first couple of weeks after we moved in to our new house. Of late the eating out or take away therapy starts on Friday night and goes on till Sunday night, save for the breakfasts. That’s also another reason why I thought I should start cooking dinner on Fridays. Also, I’ve wanted to bake pizza for some time now; it’s not like I am pizza deprived or anything, we’ve been ordering one every week, but I truly miss my homemade thin crust version.

Guess what? This happens to be my first pizza post from Delhi :-) and it also happens to be my first try without yeast. Yes, the last couple of weeks I may have gone to half a dozen of grocery stores here but couldn’t find a pack of instant or dry yeast anywhere. Yes, that’s hard to believe and disappointing, but that’s the truth. So, I thought why should I be so dependent on one ingredient and I went ahead and googled for “no-yeast pizza dough” recipes. Well, I wasn’t even sure if any result would show up, but to my surprise there were quite so many. And thus the no yeast pizza crust!

I’m so in love with my “go to pizza base” recipe, which comes out perfect all the time and this is definitely not a permanent replacement for that. This lacks that peculiar yeast flavour, but comes handy on those days when you crave for homemade thin crust pizza and realize you are out of yeast. Definitely this can be perfected, and I will do that in the days to come, but for now, here is the recipe that is going to save your “yeastless” days.

So for no-yeast pizza base- 

YOU NEED:

All-purpose flour, 3 Cups, plus extra for kneading and rolling

Baking powder, 4 teaspoons

Sugar, 4 teaspoons

Olive oil, 1/3 cup

Water,  1 1/3 cups

Salt to taste

Italian herbs, 1 teaspoon, optional

Onion powder, 2 teaspoon, optional

Garlic powder, 2 teaspoon, optional

Grated parmesan cheese, optional

HOW TO: 

Preheat the oven to 250 degree Celsius 

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder, and to this add sugar, salt and the optional ingredients; mix well. Now add olive oil and water, and using a rubber spatula mix it well until the dough firms up and pulls away from the sides. In case, if you feel the dough is too sticky or dry, this is when you should add more flour or water. Let this sit for a couple of minutes. 

Dust your work surface with flour and using your hands, knead the dough for good 5 minutes, until it forms into a smooth ball. Return the dough back to the bowl, cover and let it sit for another 5 minutes.

 

Now, divide the dough into two equal parts; if you want a third pizza then you could make this into 3. Return these balls to the bowl and let rest again for a few minutes. 

Once ready, roll out each ball into desired thinness, spread the pizza sauce, sprinkle cheese, your favourite topping and finish it with cheese again. Transfer to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until cheese melts and base gets the desired crispiness. Slice and serve.

Bon appetite!
  

P.S - I haven’t yet taken my camera out and I hardly remember the box I put it in when we relocated. So, I clicked a few using my mobile cam and since there wasn’t much natural light, just one out of the series came out good, which I have added in the post. So please bear with me! :-)

And I finally managed to buy a pack of yeast!