RECIPE: EASY 4-INGREDIENTS NO-YEAST PIZZA CRUST

The art of kneading (masa in Filipino) dough has been an essential part of my life as a pastry chef. In my previous job in “Oliveto”, an Italian Fine Dining Restaurant in Sydney, I make at least 20 kgs of Ciabatta Dough everyday and every Friday, I make about 70 to 100 pieces of Herbed Focaccia Bread. This has been my ritual every 10:00 AM before lunch service. Kneading has been my best friend more than piping or decorating dainty Italian Pastries. When I relocated by the beach, I found a new job at a pastry shop at Bondi (where I lived in Sydney). They served almost everything, from a variation of muffins and cakes to bagels and sandwiches. I thought I graduated from the kneading part, but guess what? I’m back to kneading… and the funny part? I start my kneading job at 4:00 in the morning before the shop opens at 6:00 AM. It just moved to an earlier schedule! This time, it’s not Ciabatta and Focaccia anymore. I make Brioche Breads, Sourdough, Baguettes, Hand-Crafted Donuts, Cinnamon Sticky Buns and Nutella Rolls. I also make Croissants, Danish, and some other pastries made of laminated dough, which also requires a more complicated kneading technique. But why am I blabbering about kneading anyway?

This is a quick and easy pizza recipe, but though it only has 4 simple ingredients, it still requires you to knead the dough. It’s not just a simple mix-all-ingredients kind of thing. Flour and water when mixed together creates gluten. The kneading process will add the strength and volume to your dough to form just the right amount of gluten to make your pizza crust. Don’t worry, I will assist you step-by-step and just like my previous Cabbage Rolls recipe, I have provided photos to make it easier for all of us. Let’s start unleashing the baker in you! So… Let’s go!

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Serves: Double Recipe makes 3, 8 inches thin crust pizzas. Single Recipe makes 2, 6 inches thin crust pizzas

Baking Time: BLIND BAKE AT 15-20 mins; FINAL BAKE AT 20-30 mins

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH (Double Recipe: Makes 3, 8″ inches thin crust pizza)

• 4 cups All-Purpose Flour * (prepare additional 1 cup for dusting)
• 2 cups warm water*
• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. salt

FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH (Single Recipe: Makes 2, 6″ inches thin crust pizza)

• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour* (prepare additional 1 cup for dusting)
• 1 cup warm water*
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt

* Chef’s Notes: Your pizza crust texture will depend on the kind of flour you will use. I have specified here All-Purpose Flour because it is the easiest to find in Supermarkets. But, if you want your crust to be more glutenous (springy), you can use Bread Flour or a mix of Bread Flour and All-Purpose Flour in a 1:1 ratio. Bread Flour has more protein content, thus producing more gluten when you knead your dough. Also, make sure you are using WARM WATER. Not boiling, and not too hot, just warm. We need warm water because this recipe does not have any leavening agent like yeast or baking soda or baking powder. The warm water will act as the “natural glue” when we combine all ingredients together. Remember, we are using vegetable oil. We don’t want the oil to solidify while we are mixing everything together, thus the warm water. 

PROCEDURE:

FIRST OF, PRE-HEAT YOUR OVEN AT 200*C or 180*C (if you’re using a convection oven)

1. In a mixing bowl, put together all the pizza dough ingredients. Mix them together with a spatula or spoon until there are no flour lumps. The mixture will be sticky at first, but don’t panic. Just keep on mixing. If you have a stand mixer, mix everything using the hook attachment.

Chef’s Notes: If the mixture is still sticky after everything is incorporated together, add a bit of flour little by little about a tablespoon at a time. This dough recipe will tell you straight-forward what it needs. If it’s too sticky, it needs a bit more flour, if it’s too dry it needs a bit more water. Work (knead) the dough until you reach a consistency that doesn’t stick to your fingers or to the bowl anymore. But also making sure that it is still soft to touch. Do not attempt to knead the dough more if you feel like it’s a bit dry already. This might result into an “overworked” pizza dough, making your pizza crust really hard when it’s baked.

2. If you have reached the soft dough stage, weigh your final product. If you are using the double recipe, the final product will weigh more or less 1098 g. Divide the dough by three and knead it into round balls, 366 g each ball to make 8″ pizza crust. The weight may vary depending on how much flour or water you have added into the mixture. After this stage, rest the pizza dough for about 10 to 15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.

3. While your dough is resting, prepare your toppings.

4. After the dough has rested, dust a flat surface with flour to make sure the dough does not stick on the surface. With a rolling pin, roll the dough  into 8″ flat round (or 6″ if you’re using Single Recipe), about 1/2 inch in thickness. The thickness will depend on your preference, but for this particular recipe, it is meant to be thin-crust as it will not rise up with the absence of yeast or any leavening agent.

5. Dust an aluminum pan with flour and carefully transfer your pizza dough into the dusted pan. With a dough docker, or a fork, or toothpick, dock the pizza dough. Docking is the process of poking small holes into a dough. This prevents the dough from puffing up by parts during blind baking. This is a very essential process if you are working with a dough that was kneaded with yeast, but it’s best to apply this practice even without the yeast.

Chef’s Notes: BLIND BAKING is the process of pre-baking the dough without the filling or toppings. This is usually done when your filling or toppings take a shorter time to bake than your crust. You blind bake your crust to make sure it is fully baked before you put the toppings on. Moreover, this gives the extra strength/stability for the crust to be able to hold all your toppings and sauces without the crust getting soggy. Blind baking doesn’t only apply to pizza dough. It is an important step when making pies with pre-cooked fillings like Apple Pie or a quiche.

!!! Blind bake your pizza dough in the oven for about 15 mins. at 200*C or 20 mins. at 180*C. After blind baking, take out your pizza crust to be topped with pizza sauce and your toppings.

6. You can use any Pizza Sauce of your choice. You can make your own pizza sauce from Tomato Sauce, herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and salt and pepper, or with whatever herbs or spices you would like to add. Or you can use a pre-made one like what I have used. 115 g of pizza sauce can exactly cover an 8″ round pizza crust.

This Pizza Seasoning always comes in handy. *winks*

7. Place the pizza sauce in the middle of the crust. Start from the center and spread cleanly up to the sides.

8. You can do this with a small palette knife/off-set spatula or with the back of a spoon.

9. After adding on your toppings, bake your pizza for about 20 minutes at 200*C or 30 minutes at 180*C.

I MADE 3 FLAVORS FOR MY PIZZA.

YOU CAN FOLLOW MY FLAVORS OR YOU CAN GET MORE CREATIVE AND CREATE YOUR OWN. YOU CAN EVEN MAKE A DESSERT PIZZA LIKE BANANA NUTELLA OR CHOCOLATE MALLOWS PIZZA OR APPLE CINNAMON PIZZA. THE CHOICES ARE ENDLESS! HAVE FUN ON THIS PART!

Bacon Deluxe

• 4 strips of bacon (sliced into medium dice)
• 2 slices of ham (sliced into medium dice)
• onions (sliced in round)
• capsicum (aka bell pepper)
• sliced button mushrooms
• pineapple tidbits (sorry pineapple haters. pineapple wins. haha)
• sliced black pitted olives
• cheese (mozzarella/or any quick-melt cheese)

Japanese Tuna Garlic and Corn

• Canned Tuna Flakes (hot and spicy)
• Corn Kernels
• Garlic (minced)
• cheese (mozzarella/or any quick-melt cheese)
• Japanese Mayonnaise (I put this after baking.)

All-Veggie (Vegan-Friendly)

• Sliced Button Mushrooms
• Corn Kernels
• Garlic (minced)
• Onions (sliced in thin rounds)
• Pineapple Tidbits
• Capsicum (sliced thinly, please don’t copy my laziness in slicing. Haha)
• Tomatoes (sliced in wedges)
• sliced Black Pitted Olives

DO YOU HAVE EASY PIZZA RECIPES OR TECHNIQUES YOU WOULD LOVE TO SHARE?

DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE? OR PLANNING TO TRY IT?

HOW DID IT GO? DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

LET ME KNOW! I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!