Making homemade pizza is a breeze if you have the right recipe and ingredients. If you start making homemade pizzas you would definitely feel the difference between homemade fresh crust and the store bought ones. Initially I was reluctant to try, but being pizza lovers ( my hubby and me ) we missed pizza so much after we moved back to our hometown. So I started trying and it’s a weekend regular in our home now.
Steps in making paneer tikka pizza
- Preparation of the dough
- Prepping the toppings
- Pizza sauce
- Assembling the pizza
- Baking
Initially when I was trying to make pizza at home I searched and tried a lot of recipes from the internet. But we always felt we were missing something compared to the store bought pizza. Though we are pizza lovers we always tend to make the pizza healthy by loading the pizza with lots and lots of veggies. As a result the crust was always chewy and never crisp. And we missed the gooey texture of the cheese. Since we loaded the pizza with lots of toppings by the time the pizza was ready in the oven the cheese was a little bit overcooked and the layer of the pizza immediately below the veggies was a little bit undercooked.
My sister in law who lives in Singapore gave me an excellent solution for this. She asked me to bake the pizza in 3 steps instead of assembling everything and baking it in one shot. Yes you are right.. 3 steps!! Voila… that’s it.. the pizza was wonderful… I got both the crispy crust and gooey cheese with a lot of healthy veggie toppings. Though this is a little bit of extra work, trust me it makes a huge difference in the pizza. People like us who love lots of toppings in your pizza can definitely try this technique at least for once.
So in this post I am sharing the assembling and baking of homemade paneer tikka pizza. I have used my no knead pizza dough recipe which I will be sharing the link to and homemade pizza sauce.
Prep time – 1 ½ hrs
Cook time – 15 to 20 mins per pizza
Servings – 3 thick crust 9 inch pizza or 4 thin crust 9 inch pizza
Ingredients
- Kneaded and proofed pizza dough
- 8 tbsp pizza sauce
- 200g grated mozzarella cheese
- 200g grated cheddar cheese
- 200g finely chopped mushrooms
- 200g frozen / fresh corn kernels
- 200g marinated paneer tikka
- 1 green, red & yellow bell pepper
- Dried Italian seasoning
- Dried Basil herb
- Onion flakes
- Chilli flakes
- ¼ cup olive oil for brushing
Cooking instructions
- Knead and proof the pizza dough for 1½ hrs. Meanwhile marinate the paneer cubes with paneer tikka masala and chop the veggies. Grate the cheese blocks and keep it ready.
- After 1 ½ hrs, preheat your oven to maximum capacity for 15 mins. Mine goes upto 240°C. Now we can start assembling the pizza.
- Take a pizza pan or stone or even a baking tray. I have used a 9 inch aluminium baking mould. Grease it with olive oil and dust it with dry flour.
- Take a portion of the dough and gently spread throughout the pan. You can even use a rolling pin. If you are using a rolling pin roll it on a flat surface and then place it inside the pan.
- Pinch the edges and make holes throughout the dough with a fork. This prevents the dough from bubbling. Brush the dough liberally with olive oil.
- Now bake this dough in the bottom rack of the pre heated oven for 5 minutes.
- After 5 mins remove the pan and close the oven. Do not switch off the oven.
- Now coat the pizza base with pizza sauce, a single small layer of mozzarella cheese. Season with dried herbs.
- Now add corn kernel, capsicum, chopped mushrooms, bell peppers and paneer tikka.
- Bake this in the middle rack of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes.
- Now remove the pizza and spread the remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
- Bake this in the top rack of the oven for 3 – 5 mins or till the cheese browns.
- That’s it your cheesy, gooey pizza is ready.
- You can go ahead and make the other pizzas in the same way. If your oven has a larger capacity you can make all the pizzas at once or even two pizzas at a time.
- Each oven differs in cooking time so please do check in intervals initially while you are perfecting the technique.
Cooking instructions with step by step pictures
Knead and proof the pizza dough for 1½ hrs.
Meanwhile marinate the paneer cubes with paneer tikka masala.
Chop the veggies.
Grate the cheese blocks and keep it ready.
After 1 ½ hrs, preheat your oven to maximum capacity for 15 mins. Mine goes upto 240°C. Now we can start assembling the pizza. Take a pizza pan or stone or even a baking tray. I have used a 9 inch aluminium baking mould. Grease it with olive oil and dust it with dry flour. Take a portion of the dough and gently spread throughout the pan. You can even use a rolling pin. If you are using a rolling pin roll it on a flat surface and then place it inside the pan.
Pinch the edges and make holes throughout the dough with a fork. This prevents the dough from bubbling. Brush the dough liberally with olive oil.
Now bake this dough in the bottom rack of the pre heated oven for 5 minutes. After 5 mins remove the pan and close the oven. Do not switch off the oven.
Now coat the pizza base with pizza sauce, a single small layer of mozzarella cheese. Season with dried herbs.
Now add corn kernel, capsicum, chopped mushrooms, bell peppers and paneer tikka.
Bake this in the middle rack of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes. Now remove the pizza and spread the remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
Bake this in the top rack of the oven for 3 – 5 mins or till the cheese browns. That’s it your cheesy, gooey pizza is ready.
You can go ahead and make the other pizzas in the same way. If your oven has a larger capacity you can make all the pizzas at once or even two pizzas at a time. Each oven differs in cooking time so please do check in intervals initially while you are perfecting the technique.
