Pizza - Baked aubergine and onion pizza

Pizza .......hmmm I have made it from scratch for like 3 times in my life. This time the pizza came out well ...yaay !!!!  ahem ..... excuse me, just got a bit excited.
Bread is a bit tricky to make. Baking is new to me, I will not say completely but it is. I wanted to prepare pizza exactly for 2 persons and voila !..I had it,
- I scaled down all the ingredients
- Changed the steps of baking, because I do not have a pizza stone and the pizza was not quite having the taste.
and I did get a decent pizza. Finally !!!!

I did everything by hand, no machine !
Basic pizza dough - For 2 pizzas(thin crust) - 27 x 18 cm

All purpose flour - 200 gms plus dusting
Salt - 1/3 plus 1/4 tsp (we will use it together, easier for measurement)
Active dry yeast - 1/3 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Water, chilled - 140 ml
Sugar - 1 tsp

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together and then pour in the oil-water mixture and combine to a sticky dough.

2. Knead till the dough is smooth, it leaves the sides and sticks only to the bottom of the bowl. The resulting dough should be springy, elastic and sticky.

3. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts with oiled hands and pat it into 1/2 inch thick discs. Place the dough in a plate or bowl and cover the dish with a plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 2 hours.

4. Prepare the cake form or brownie form (this is what I used) oil it and flour it lightly, just like you would prepare for a cake.

5. Take one of the discs and place it at the center of the brownie form and start flattening the disc from the middle and slowly fill the mould uniformly with a thin layer of the pizza dough. Dont worry if it tears just try to combine it with the thicker part of the spread pizza dough and correct it.

6. After flattening the pizza dough, poke it with a fork all over, helps the crust not bubble up all over.

7. Preheat the oven at 260°C for 45 minutes before baking.

8. Mine is a 23 lt oven with air circulation. So I baked the pizza in the following way,

- 4 minutes lowest rack
- 4 minutes last but one rack
- 20 minutes with the topping in the last but one rack

Pizza sauce - for 4 pizzas (27 x 18 cm)

Tomatoes, ripe and red, chopped - 400 gms
Red onion, finely chopped - 130 gms (2 medium sized)
Garlic, finely chopped - 20 gms (5 cloves)
Cinnamon stick - 1.5 inch
Bay leaf - 1
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Mint leaves - 10
Water - 1/2 cup
Pepper powder (coarse) - 1/4 tsp
Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp

1. Heat oil in a pan, add the cinnamon, bay leaf and garlic fry till you start seeing few specks of golden brown garlic pieces.

2. Now, add the onions and fry till they are transluscent. At this stage add the tomatoes, mint leaves, salt, pepper powder, chilli flakes. Close the pan and cook till the tomatoes get mashed by the back of the spatula. Now, add the water and simmer the sauce on slow heat till you achieve the spreadable pizza sauce consistency, this takes around 15 - 20 minutes.

Baked Aubergine

Aubergine - 400 gms (1 big)
Olive oil - 2 tbsps
Sea salt - 3 pinches
Pepper powder (coarse) - 1/3 tsp
Italian dried herb mix - 1/4 tsp

1. Preheat the oven at 220°C.

2. Cut the aubergine into 1/2 inch thick roundels, drizzle the oil, sprinkle the sea salt, pepper powder and Italian dried herb mix and mix well to coat all the roundels.

3. Place each of the discs on a baking tray covered with aluminium foil. Bake for 13-16 minutes till they turn a deep golden colour.

Assembling the pizza for final baking,

1. Spread the required amount of sauce on the partially cooked pizza base, sprinkle  some cheese (I used only mozzarella) over the sauce and then place the baked aubergine discs and then sprinkle the thinly sliced onions and finally sprinkle some black olives and some more of the cheese.

2. Bake for 20 minutes at the last but one rack.

Thanks for visiting my blog :)