Nigerian Pizza is a thinly rolled bread dough crust, typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat, vegetables or fruit.
Homemade pizza is like an art that you have to do over and over again in order to master it, even after the mastery you might still need some tweakings here and there just to suit your needs.
Below is a well explained recipe, you can't go wrong with. So read on to make the most delicious Nigerian pizza.
Ingredients For Nigerian Pizza Dough
• 3 Cups of bread flour
• 2 Tablespoon yeast
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1-1/4 Cups of water
• 3 Tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ Tablespoon Salt or to taste
For The Nigerian Pizza Sauce
• 6oz Tomato paste (3/4 Cup)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• ½ Tbsp Onion powder
• 2 cloves of minced Garlic
• ½ Tbsp Black Pepper
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• ¾ to 1 Cup water
• ½ Tsp Honey or Brown Sugar
• ¼ Tsp of salt or to taste
Directions For Making Nigerian Pizza
For The Pizza Sauce
- Stir together the tomato paste, Italian seasoning, onion powder, minced garlic, black pepper, olive oil, water, honey or brown sugar and salt to taste and set aside.
For The Pizza Dough
Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a large bowl and leave it to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and a bit foamy, then stir in the olive oil and salt.
Add the flour and mix it until all the ingredients are well combined, then transfer it to a work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been coated with olive oil, turn it around so that it can be evenly coated with the oil.
Now cover it with a plastic wrap or damp kitchen towel and leave it to rise for 1 hour or till it's doubled in size.
Punch down the dough to remove the trapped air then transfer it back to a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough into the size of your choice.
Use your hand to push the dough from the center, then onwards while still maintaining a circular shape. If you are finding this hard to do, you can just use a rolling pin.
Dust the pizza pan with some corn powder and place the flattened out dough on the pan and continue to push the dough till it reaches the size of your pan.
Making sure you create a lip around the edge for the crust. Now leave this to rest for about 5 minutes before adding the toppings.
Brush the dough with some olive oil, concentrating more on the edges this will help to achieve the golden brown crust.
Spread the sauce on the pizza, add the Cheese, and your favorite toppings then bake in a 450 degree oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes rotating half way between.
Pizza is best enjoyed while still hot, it is still advisable to allow the pizza to cool for a few minutes in order to prevent burns. Enjoy!