Easy No-yeast Pizza (with yogurt)

Easy no-yeast pizza is a quick and fast way of satisfying your fetish for homemade pizza!! The pizza dough is made with only yogurt and self-rising flour and if you have pizza sauce already made or if you have a store-bought pizza sauce, your homemade pizza will be ready in minutes!!

I love this Italian gift to the world and can have them anytime of the day!! I do make them quite often using a yeast dough which needs a little preparation and planning. So when I came across a “Two-Ingredient Pizza dough” online, I had to check it out myself!!

As I mentioned earlier, the pizza crust needs only 2 ingredients: self-rising flour and Greek yogurt.  Now where I live, we do not get Greek yogurt and self rising flour easily.  So I decided to make them myself. Self-rising flour is just all purpose flour or maida with some baking powder and salt.  Greek yogurt is just thick yogurt with less moisture, so I decided to make hung yogurt (straining regular plain yogurt in a cheesecloth to remove at least 75% of the water) and use it in the place of greek yogurt to make the pizza dough.

Now you may think, won’t the yogurt make the dough sour or tangy?  Surprisingly, there was no yogurty smell in the pizza and what turned out was a slightly puffy crust (so roll as thin as possible) with a crisp outer crust. You have to make sure you bake these in a very hot oven (at least 450 degrees Fahrenheit or 230 degrees Centigrade oven) to get a crispy crust!!

Another step I do (even with the yeast dough) is prebaking of the pizza crust.  I roll the dough and prebake in a hot oven for about 10 minutes or more till light brown and slightly cooked, cool and then add the toppings and then bake again!! I found that this step made for a crispier crust which we love.

Easy no-yeast pizza needs no special equipment, just mix, knead, roll thinly, spread your favorite toppings and bake in a hot oven; your pizza will be ready in no time!! With mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce always in my refrigerator, making this heavenly pizza was easy peazy with my favorite toppings of mushrooms, bell peppers, onions and olives!!! You can add your own toppings. It turned out so good, my family, especially my mother loved it!! So if you haven’t got yeast in the house, don’t like the smell of yeast or don’t have time to wait around for dough to rise, this is your new go-to recipe

Step-by-step method:(makes one 14 inch pizza):

Make the pizza sauce:

• In a blender or mixer jar, add the tomatoes, onions, green chillies and garlic and blend into a paste without adding water.
• Pour this onion-tomato puree into a deep saucepan or kadai.  Add tomato puree, salt to taste, sugar, oregano, Italian seasonings and bring to a boil.
• Once it comes to a boil, simmer on low heat till you get a thick pizza sauce (about 15 to 20 minutes). Thickness of the sauce is as per your preference, but do not make it too thin, or your pizza base will be soggy after baking!! Keep aside to cool.

Make the pizza dough:

• If you do not have greek yogurt, you can make thick yogurt from regular yogurt. Just drain the plain yogurt in a cheesecloth over a strainer into a bowl, (to collect the whey/water), for about an hour or two.

• You can place the whole bowl in the refrigerator (optional).
• After 1 to 2 hours, you will have got thick hung yogurt, a good substitute for greek yogurt!!

• Preheat oven to at least 450 degrees Fahrenheit or 230 degrees Centigrade (hottest in your oven).
• In a mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk or spoon (or sift).

• Add the hung yogurt or greek yogurt (along with chilli flakes and oregano)  and gently mix with a spoon.
• Mix it till it comes together and knead on a well-floured surface till soft and pliable (about 5 to 8 minutes). If you feel the dough is sticky, add some more flour a little a time; but as you knead, it will come together and become soft and smooth.

• There is no need to rest this dough; you can make pizzas immediately!!
• Grease a pizza pan with oil and sprinkle some suji/semolina/cornmeal on top of the pan. This helps in creating a crispy crust!!

• Roll the dough slightly and place on the greased pan. Gently, spread with your hands till the edge of the pan evenly to a thin crust.

• Prick with a fork (to avoid the crust from puffing up) and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes, till slightly golden brown. Cool the crust for a few minutes on a wire rack.

Making of the pizza:

• Gather all the pizza topping ingredients.

• Layer the toppings on the pizza; sauce, some cheese, vegetable or any other toppings you have and then some more cheese.

• Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes (directly on the oven rack) till the cheese has completely melted and has started to brown and the crust has turned golden brown.

Remove from oven and serve hot!!

If you love pizza like my family does, then you gotta try these too:

• Paneer Tikka Pizza
• Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza
• Vegetarian Yeast Pizza

 

Note:

1. This easy dough can be refrigerated for a couple of days; just bring it to room temperature before making the pizza.
2. The time it needs to bake depends upon the type of oven, so bake accordingly.
3. The more the sauce, the softer the crust, so if you want a crispy crust, try not to use too much sauce or toppings.
4. Adding chilli flakes and seasoning to the crust is optional.
5. If you do not want to make one large pizza, you can make 2 to 3 small pizzas.