Pita Pizza by Airfryer

Many people ask me if the Airfryer is a good investment.  I have met a few folks who bought the airfryer but it ended up as a white elephant. For me, I try to use it at least twice a week.  So, YES, it is a good investment for me.

I haven't baked pizza from scratch from a long time simply because I'm getting lazier each day.  Age is catching up and with a backache for almost a month, I've been very selective in my cooking.   For now, my pizza base is either using store-bought wrap or pita.  It is easy to use ready-made pastry, save me the hassle to knead and wash utensils :P

With the airfryer, it makes DIY pizza even easier!  Just a mere 5 mins and you get piping hot pizza!

Pita Pizza

1. Preheat airfryer for 3-5 mins.
2. Spread one side of the pita with olive oil and pizza sauce.
3. Arrange a layer of grated mozzarella cheese followed by preferred toppings. Sprinkle the top all over with grated cheese.
4. Fry in Airfryer @ 180C for 3-5 mins.

 

Baking with Kids

I'm "stealing" the title from HHB's blog.

If you've been following my  blog, you will know I like to involve my kids in my bakes, especially in pizza making as they can contribute so much.  They have been helping me out constantly, from household chores to cooking and baking.  In the kitchen, they are constantly seen plucking vegetables or removing roots of bean sprouts (they just love doing these).  When it comes to cake making, I refuse to use the electric mixer (unless I'm making chiffon cakes) and prefers to cream butter and sugar by using a wooden spoon.  And yes, the kids enjoyed that moment too.

Back to pizza making, they have been helping me all along, just that I didn't have a chance to take pictures of those precious moments.  But now, I finally did :-)

I usually assign simple tasks to them, thus minimal supervision is required.

DS2 cutting the canned pineapples into smaller pieces.  DD3 standing beside observing the process.

Now it is DD3's turn to try her hands on it, with her brother assisting her.

Poking the dough with fork, another simple yet enjoyable task for them.

The kids went for their shower while I pre-baked the dough.  I helped them spread the tomato paste as the pan was still hot.  DD3 couldn't resist feeding herself some cheese in the process of helping.  And of course, her brother followed suit.

Spreading some sauteed mushrooms with a spoon but DS2 prefers to use his hand.

Spreading more cheese on top

Placing the ham

Told them no more pinching food else there'll be nothing left for their pizzas.  DS2 decided to smell the pineapple instead *eyes rolling*

The pizza, yum!

It is supposed to be a thick crust pizza but I didn't double the recipe and used a 2 x 10" pizza recipe for a 1 x 10" and a 11" x 14" pan.  Nevertheless, it tasted good.

All time favourite - Hawaiian pizza.

Check out the "cheese pull" effect!  Kids were thrilled to see this everytime they bite into it!

DD1 pretended to use her fingers to "cut" off the cheese.

I managed to capture this shot!  He just bit off the cheese and it came falling down.

Thick Crust Pizza
Recipe  seen here
Source: adapted from 美食新煮张, 手工面包&三明治

Ingredients

(make two 10" pizza dough)
250g bread flour
50g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
180ml lukewarm water

Method

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Knead using dough cycle. If the mixture is too dry, add 1 tbsp of water at a time to form dough. 
2. After the kneading cycle is completed, let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it down to release the air. Give it a few gentle kneading. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Shape into two balls, cover loosely with cling wrap and let the doughs rest for about 10mins.
4. Roll or press out each portion to a round, about 12" in size. Place dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a greased pan.
5. Dock with a fork all around the crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 8 - 10 mins. Set aside till further use.
7. Spread some pizza sauce over the dough to within 1 cm (0.5 inch) of the edge. Arrange a layer of grated cheese (I used grated mozzarella), followed by preferred toppings. Sprinkle the top all over with grated cheese.
8. Bake in a preheat oven at 200C for 12 - 15 mins or until the crust has turned golden and the cheese has melted. Serve warm.

Mixed Herbs Pizza

Sometime last month, the family was out to run some errands and we had pizza for dinner at a local restaurant.  It was the worst pizza I've ever had, crust was ultra thick (more like eating bread), pathetic ingredients and I thought the pizzas had taken a dip in a pool of oil.  I decided to make my own since we have not had homemade pizzas for more than 2 months.

With some leftover bakkwa from CNY sitting in the fridge, I decided to try HHB's mixed herbs pizza.  Added some sauted button mushrooms and tomatoes but I forgot my olives :-(

Instead of hand kneading, I let my breadmachine do the job.  It was a breeze and my time saver as I could spend some good quality time with my kids where the machine did the work.

DH had been complaining I've been too generous with my cheese and that contributed to his waistline expansion so I went easy with the cheese now.

HHB mentioned that the centre of her pizza crust was less crispy as compared to the edge.  I thought the problem could be easily resolved since I always pre-bake my pizza crust.  However, even with pre-baking, the centre of the pizza crusts remained soft :-(

Hawaiian pizza again.  This is a "must have" whenever we have homemade pizza.  With the balance bakkwa, mushrooms and tomatoes, I laid the balance ingredients at the side of the pan.

A slightly over-baked pizza as I was bathing DD3 :P

Mixed Herbs Pizza
(Adapted from Baking with Kids by Linda Collister)

Ingredients
300g bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
185ml lukewarm water (I used room temperature)
1.5 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Place flour, salt, yeast and dried mixed herbs in a mixing bowl. Mix well with hand. Make a well in the centre and add the water and olive oil. Using your hand, gradually work the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10mins until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a round ball and place in a lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hr or until double in size.
3. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it down to release the air. Give it a few gentle kneading. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Shape into two balls, cover loosely with cling wrap and let the doughs rest for about 10mins.
4. Roll or press out each portion to a round, about 12" in size. Place dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a greased pan.
5. Dock with a fork all around the crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 8 - 10 mins. Set aside till further use.
7. Spread some pizza sauce over the dough to within 1 cm (0.5 inch) of the edge. Arrange a layer of grated cheese (I used grated mozzarella), followed by preferred toppings. Sprinkle the top all over with grated cheese.
8. Bake in a preheat oven at 200 degC for 10 - 12 mins or until the crust has turned golden and the cheese has melted. Serve warm.

Pizza II

What are your expectations when you visit a food blog? For me, it will be pictures and recipes (no beautiful language needed for I don't speak good English myself :P). It'll be a bonus if there are step-by-step pictures. Pictures speak a thousand words and many-a-times, I'm inspired by all those wonderful pictures. If you are my regular reader, you will also know that I don't bother much with presentation. I couldn't be bothered with nice utensils or decorations to go along with the food/bakes. I know I don't cook/bake well, I'm also a lousy photographer but I'm trying my best to present my humble food/bakes in their best form.

Kids asked for pizza again and this was what I did. I realised I've been lagging in updating my blog again so I won't go into much details, will just let the pictures do the "talking".

Fresh button mushroom with sausage and cheese.

Nice long gluey cheese :-)

DD1 and DS2's all time favourite, Hawaiian pizza.

Honestly speaking, I just cannot understand what is the attraction about Hawaiian pizza, it is basically just ham and pineapple. Maybe the beauty lies in these 2 ingredients? Oh well.. I'm not a fan but I never fail to make this when we had home-made pizza as my kids love this.

This was originally a basic pizza base but we don't like thick crust, thus I reduced the recipe by half and rolled them really thin. The base was still slightly soft but the sides were crispy, nothing like the thin crust pizza I've made earlier. This recipe is good if you prefer thick crust.

Pizza Base

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup flour, sifted

100 - 120ml warm water

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp yeast

Method

1. Put all ingredients in breadmachine. Knead using dough cycle. If the mixture is too dry, add 1 tbsp of water at a time to form dough.
2. After the kneading cycle is completed, let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal portions.
4. Roll out each portion to a round, about 12" in size. Place dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a well greased pan.
5. Dock with a fork all around the crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 8 - 10 mins. Set aside till further use.
7. Spread tomato paste over the dough and covering near end of edge (about 1 cm away). Add your favourite toppings and cheese.
8. Baked pizza in pre-heated oven at 200C for 10 - 12 mins or until the crust has turned golden brown and when the cheese has melted.
9. Serve and enjoy!

Thin Crust Pizza

We've had enough of porridge and soupy food for the past 1 week so I decided to pamper the kids with pizza today. I've not baked pizza for the longest time, if I need to put a figure to it, I think it was like 3 years ago when I made pizza using my AMC roasting pan. I didn't like to use my oven then as I was using a 3-in-1 microwave oven and it was so tiny I could only bake 1 tray at a time. It was relatively easy to "bake" with the AMC pan but I can't get a crisp crust and the cheese layer doesn't brown.

I like to involve my children in the kitchen if the task ain't too difficult. Today, the two younger ones helped to remove the stalks of the fresh button mushrooms (we don't have the habit of eating the stalks). It was a mess especially when my 20 months girl was literally ripping the mushrooms apart and I heard lots of scolding from my DS2 hahahaha!

I sauteed the mushrooms with some butter and used them as toppings with long yoke/bak kwa and tomatoes. This is one randomly mix and match combination with no proper theme but what the heck, who says there must be a theme to homemade pizza? :P


We love our pizza with loads of cheese so I had them flooded with mozzarella cheese (that's about 125g cheese on each pizza pan).

The 2 older kids helped to spread the tomato paste and laid the ingredients. Not too bad for a 7 yo and a 4 yo ;-)

Again, loaded with more cheese :)

I've made some changes to the original recipe by adding a bit more water as the dough was too dry. Also, original recipe does not require pre-baking the crust but I do not wish to race with time should something crop up so I sent them to the oven and baked for 8 - 10 mins and left them to cool till further use. We like this better as the pre-baking process helped to keep the crust crisp.

I sliced each pizza into 8 wedges and DD1 ate 4! I'm glad my whole family enjoyed their dinner tonight, even DD3 who's a fussy eater ate a slice ^-^

Thin Crust Pizza

(Recipe adapted from Kitchen Capers)
Dough (Yield: 2 pcs 12 inch pizza)

Ingredients

130ml Water

3 TBsp Olive oil

1 tsp Salt

2 cups All purpose flour

2 tsp Yeast

Method

1. Put all ingredients in breadmachine. Knead using dough cycle. If the mixture is too dry, add 1 tbsp of olive oil/water at a time to form dough.
2. After the kneading cycle is completed, let it proof in machine for 30 - 45 mins or till double in size.
3. Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal portions.
4. Roll out each portion to a round, about 12" in size. Place dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a well greased pan.
5. Dock with a fork all around the crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 8 - 10 mins. Set aside till further use.
7. Spread tomato paste over the dough and covering near end of edge (about 1 cm away). Add your favourite toppings and cheese.
8. Baked pizza in pre-heated oven at 200C for 10 - 12 mins or until the crust has turned golden brown and when the cheese has melted.
9. Serve and enjoy!