Spinach & Pepperoni Pizza with a hot 3-cheese sauce!

Thanks everyone for voting me to the top 9 on FOODBUZZ.

To break free from the seafood jinx, I decided to do a spinach pizzaaa!!! Well, before I go blah, blah and blah, blah, blah, let me give due credits J to the inspiration for this dish - Momchef’s Spinach pizza. I have tried her version and it rocks! Then I came up with this version because Mr.Aj can’t imagine pizza without meat! So I stacked away some pepperoni in for his sakeJ. I used fresh spinach instead of canned. Either is fine. Just make sure to get rid of all the water content. And my sauce is entirely different!

The sauce is something I have wanted to share from some time now. This is my personally devised and current favourite pizza sauce and it goes with any sort of topping too! I have tried it with tandoori chicken pizza, spicy sausage pizza and minced meat pizza....even with just cheese, olives and tomatoes for topping. But it never fails to impart a unique delicious flavour to the pizza. And of course, it makes my pizza spicy. Don’t bother adding green chillies in case you are one of the “not-hotties”J.

If you want the perfect flavour, make sauce on the previous day and let it refrigerate overnight. You store for future use. It will last up to 12 days in the refrigerator. Take care to store in an airtight container after cooling to room temperature.

This time the dough is a little different from the last pizza I posted and crust is thin but soft and I polished it with the pizza sauce before baking, which gave it a good piece of flavouring. The egg is optional while making this dough. Add a teaspoon extra honey if you are opting out of egg.

Ingredients: (serves 5)

Dough:

All purpose flour- 3 cups

Milk- ½ cup

Sugar- ½ tablespoon

Honey- 1tablespoon

Dried Oregano - a few pinch

Salt- ½ teaspoon

Egg - 1 beaten

Dry active Yeast - 2 teaspoon

Olive oil - 1 teaspoon

Topping:

Mozzarella cheese shredded - 3 cups

Spinach - 500grams fresh leaves only chopped

Beef pepperoni -enough to place in a single layer

Green Bell pepper - 1 sliced without seeds

Onion- 1 sliced

Tomato - a few slices

Dried oregano - a pinch

Pizza Sauce: (makes around 1 cup)

Red onion - ½

Garlic - 2 cloves

Cilantro or parsley - 3 sprigs with stem (I like coriander)

Green chillies-2 (optional) or pepper

Yogurt- 2 tablespoon

Mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon

Parmesan cheese - 2 teaspoon

Grated mild cheddar cheese - 3 teaspoon

Cream cheese - 1 tablespoon

Ketchup- 1 teaspoon

Heavy cream - 1 tablespoon

Method:

1.       Grind onion, garlic, cilantro and green chillies, yogurt and mayo till finely ground.

2.       Pour mixture into a sauce pan and turn heat to very low.

3.       Add all types of cheese one after the other and stir till incorporated.

4.       Stirring continuously, add ketchup and cream. Once mixed you will get a thick sauce. Remove from heat. (DON’T over heat or else the yogurt and cream will separate. Keep it on minimum heat and switch off as soon as everything mixes evenly.)

5.       Transfer into a dry container and let it cool.

6.       In a small bowl take 2 tablespoon mildly lukewarm water and put the yeast in. Cover with a lid and keep aside for 5mins till the yeast particles start accumulating on top of the water.

7.       Mix all ingredients for dough using a fork except milk and yeast.

8.       Add yeast and mix again. Now add milk little by little and slowly forming dough. Just knead until the dough is even. (Don’t wrestle with it for long and blame me for a hard horrible baseJ. 3mins of kneading was enough for me to get evenly mixed dough.)

9.        Cover with a lid and leave in a warm corner of your kitchen for 2 or 3 hours.

10.   Place a cooking vessel over medium heat, pour a teaspoon of olive oil, add spinach, season with salt and cook till it wilts. Let water content reduce to minimum. Remove from stove.

11.   Once dough expands to double the size, punch to eliminate air gaps formed while rising.

12.   Prepare the pizza pan, stone or whatever you choose to bake in. Coat a thin layer of olive oil on it.

13.   Spread the dough evenly using hands or a press and place in pan.

14.   Top it with the sauce, onions, pepperoni, spinach and bell pepper in order.

15.    Bake at 210⁰C for 15mins.

16.   Now, spread the cheese and tomatoes. Sprinkle some dried oregano on top. Bake at 200⁰C for 10 more mins.

17.   And we are ready to dive inJ. Nah you don’t need accompaniments!

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