Fruity Home-made Pizza

Sunday lunches are always a mad rush for us as the 2 girls have their swimming / Chinese enrichment and keyboard lessons all on Sunday between 11am and 3.30pm.

Hence, we usually have simple, quick to prepare and eat lunches at home, after the swimming lesson, before we rush out for the next lesson. Yesterday, the girls wanted pasta. I cooked the cute safari animal pasta with store-bought tomato pasta sauce. See the pictures of the pre-cooked pasta, they are so cute, right? Not only good to see, they are nice to eat too.

With the 1/4 bottle leftover pasta sauce, I decided to make pizza for dinner tonight, since it has been a long time I last made pizza.

Both girls dislike onions, olive and pepperoni. Usually when we have pizzas at pizza hut, they will carefully pick these toppings out and eat with "care" in order not to accidentally swallow any of these items. Hence, eating pizza outside if not a total enjoyment for them. To allow them to enjoy their pizzas, I do not add these items and instead, I always add my secret weapon, one that make many can't associate it with pizza. That is, Rambutan, not the fresh fruit but the canned rambutan that comes with pineapple in syrup. It may sound weird but the rambutan toppings make the pizza tasted sweet and appetizing, very appealing to kids, and adults too :)

Here is my recipe for the Fruity Home-made Pizza:

Pizza Dough Ingredients

• 1 packet Active Dry Yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water (60 deg C)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose / bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

Pizza Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried Italian herb

Preparation for sauce: mix all ingredients together, leave in fridge for about 30 min before use.

(Note: I usually make my own pizza sauce with the above ingredients but i simply used the left over  pasta sauce this time)

Pizza Topping Ingredients

• 1/4 can Rambutan in syrup
• 1/4 can Pineapple in syrup
• 1/2 can button mushroom
• Chicken ham
• Taiwan chicken sausage (low fat)
• Cherry honey tomatoes
• Shredded cheese

Preparation for toppings: discard the syrup, slightly squeeze the rambutan and pineapple to dry away the syrup, slice all the topping ingredients, except the shredded cheese

Methods 

1. Whisk yeast, warm water, sugar and olive oil in a bowl. Let sit for 3 min
2. Whisk flour and salt together
3. Mix yeast mixture into the flour until combined and dough barely hold together
4. Turn dough out on a dusted surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 min
5. Place the dough in a oiled bowl, cover with tower and let rise until it doubled in size, about 1-2 hours
6. Punch dough down and divide into 2 equal pieces. Knead each slightly to form a ball, set aside and cover with tower for 30 min
7. Roll dough into 10-inches diameter, about 1/2 inch in thickness
8. Brush a layer of tomato sauce / pasta sauce, add cheese, then the toppings, followed by another layer of cheese
9. Bake in the oven at 240 degree C for 10-12 min

Enjoy the fresh home-made pizza with a hint of sweetness from the rambutans and pineapple toppings  :)

This is for Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess @ Bakericious.