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Veg Pizza Recipe

Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Rising 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the dough
  • 2.5 cups plain flour maida, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
For the sauce
  • 4 large ripe tomatoes roughly chopped (or 1.5 cups tomato purée)
  • 4 to 5 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • Salt to taste
  • A few fresh basil leaves torn (optional)
For the topping
  • 1 medium onion sliced into thin rings or petals
  • 1 medium capsicum green bell pepper, cut into thin strips or small squares
  • 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper cut the same way (optional, for colour)
  • 1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
  • 6 to 8 mushrooms thinly sliced
  • 8 to 10 black or green olives sliced
  • 1 tomato deseeded and diced
  • 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese about 200 grams
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano or mixed Italian herbs to finish
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes to finish (optional)

Method
 

  1. Make the dough: stir the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm water and leave for 5 minutes until it looks foamy. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, pour in the yeast water and olive oil, and bring everything together into a shaggy dough.
  2. Knead on a floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and elastic — it should spring back when poked. Place it in an oiled bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled.
  3. Make the sauce while the dough rises: heat the olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and fry for a few seconds until fragrant but not brown. Add the tomatoes and salt and cook on medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, mashing as they soften, until the sauce is thick, glossy and the oil shows at the sides. Stir in the oregano, pepper and sugar, simmer 1 minute, then take off the heat and fold in the basil. The sauce should be spreadable, not watery — cook it down a little more if it is loose.
  4. Heat the oven to its highest temperature, 230–250°C (450–475°F), with the baking tray or pizza stone inside getting hot too. A fiercely hot oven is what gives a home pizza its crisp base and blistered rim.
  5. Shape the bases: punch the risen dough down and divide it in two. On a floured surface, roll or stretch each half into a round of about 10 inches, keeping the edge slightly thicker than the centre for a proper crust rim. Place each base on a piece of baking parchment or a well-floured tray.
  6. Spread a thin layer of sauce over each base, leaving the rim bare, then scatter over about a third of the cheese — a layer under the vegetables keeps them in place.
  7. Arrange the topping evenly over both pizzas: onion, capsicum, peppers, sweet corn, mushrooms, olives and tomato. Finish with the remaining mozzarella, spread edge to edge over the vegetables so they roast rather than dry out.
  8. Bake one pizza at a time on the hot tray for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and crisp, the cheese has melted into golden patches and the vegetables are just charred at the edges.
  9. Rest for 2 minutes, shower with oregano and chilli flakes, slice, and serve immediately while the cheese is still stringy.

Notes

In a hurry, two good-quality ready pizza bases work well with this sauce and topping — spread, top and bake for 8 to 10 minutes at the oven's highest heat.
Cut the vegetables small and do not overload the base: a crowded, wet topping steams instead of roasting and leaves the centre soggy. Deseeding the tomato matters more than it sounds.
If your oven has a fan or grill setting, a final 1 to 2 minutes under high heat gives the cheese those browned, pizzeria-style spots — watch it closely, it turns fast.
Leftover slices reheat best in a dry, covered frying pan on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes: the base crisps again and the cheese re-melts far better than in a microwave.