Recipe: Pizza

I’ve already posted a couple of other recipes for some of my favorite foods from back home that I’ve Africanized, and the last recipe I wanted to post was the last kind of food that I cooked here that always brought me comfort when I needed a taste from back home- Pizza!  This is a pretty simple recipe that can be made with easily found ingredients and also allows for a lot of creativity- that is if you’re adventurous enough to experiment with any local vegetables and foods to use as toppings.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. yeast

1 1/3 cups of warm water

1 tsp. salt

2 to 3 tbsp. sugar (optional)

2 tbsp. oil

4 cups of flour

Any desired sauce and toppings

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and let stand for 5-10 minutes.

2. Add salt, oil, flour (and optional sugar) and knead on a floured board for 10 minutes.

3. Shape dough into a ball, grease the ball lightly with oil and put in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough sit and rise for at least 1 ½ hrs.

4. Preheat the oven to 400F

5. Press dough into a buttered pizza pan and perforate dough with a fork.

6. Bake 10-15 minutes, then cover the dough with any sauce, cheese and toppings.

7. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is ready.

I usually just cut up some vegetables and add some cheese and sauce bought at the market, but feel free to experiment a bit.  Enjoy!