Pizza In A Flash

We got home from the lake with a dab of leftover coleslaw and some cheese. That was about it. Daddy-O asked for scrambled eggs for supper that night. But I had a real craving for pizza. Back in the old days (before the pandemic) we would order pizza from a local place every few weeks. That hasn't happened since March. A couple of weeks ago I made homemade pizza with a yeast dough and homemade sauce. Delicious.

But y'all, it was time to eat! There surely wasn't time for yeast dough to rise. So it was the perfect time to try the quick little pizzas that Jamie Oliver's son Buddy, (age about 12) made on Instagram last week. This is not a new recipe. I've known about the dough for a long time but I never tried it. Buddy is in the UK so his measurements are in grams. He used 350 grams of self-rising flour (2-3/4 cups) and 250 grams (a little over 1 cup) plain yogurt. And he made 8 little pizzas for his family of five. I did not need 8 little pizzas. 

I also remembered that Skinnytaste made one with flour and yogurt. I looked up her version online. And then while I was still at the computer I started looking at other peoples flour/yogurt pizza crust recipes. There are lots of them. I discovered there is no absolute when it comes to the flour to yogurt ratio. I found recipes that called for...

        Self-rising flour    Plain Greek Yogurt

   2 cups                      1 cup 

1-3/4 cups                   1 cup

   1 cup                        1 cup

1-1/3 cups                   1 cup

1-1/2 cups                   1 cup

Skinnytaste, well known food blogger and cookbook author, used equal amounts of flour and yogurt. Jamie Oliver, famous TV chef and cookbook author, coaching his son, used about twice as much flour as yogurt. This just tells me that you don't need to be afraid of this dough. You can adjust by adding a little more flour or a dab more yogurt if the first stir up is too sticky or too dry. If you read assorted recipes, some talk about a sticky dough. Buddy Oliver's was a sturdy dough. One lone recipe added a tiny bit of olive oil to the dough. Another brushed the rolled out dough with oil. Some seasoned the mix with garlic powder or onion powder. You just need to play with this one. I am going to try some different flour/yogurt proportions to see how they work. 

Next time I might increase the yogurt a little, and at some point might even try the equal flour/yogurt amounts to see what happens. I was happy to have a jar of pizza sauce here. Don't mind making some but this was quicker. It only took a few minutes to stir up this dough and get it oven ready. While it was cooking, I made scrambled eggs for Daddy-O. In close to 15 minutes we were ready to eat. I don't often do the short order thing around here, but both the pizza and eggs were quick and easy. We were both happy with our suppers.

Here's the way I made mine last night. It hit the spot! 

QUICK CHEESE PIZZA

1 cup self-rising flour (I used White Lily)

1/2 cup fat-free Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani and I needed a little more)

pizza sauce (I used a jar of Rao's pizza sauce)

shredded mozzarella

shredded parmesan

Preheat oven to 450º. 

Pour any liquid off the yogurt. Add flour and yogurt to a bowl and stir to mix. Once it starts to clump, use your hands to finish combining. I had to add about a teaspoon of extra yogurt to get my dough to hold together. Turn dough out on to a lightly floured surface and press out and fold over several times until dough is smooth. Use a rolling pin and roll dough very thin. Place on a non-stick pizza pan or baking sheet. Top with sauce, cheeses and add any other toppings desired.

Bake on lower rack 10-12 minutes until crust is lightly browned.

This amount of dough could have been divided to make two individual pizzas. I only made one medium pizza. To be perfectly honest, I nearly ate all of it by myself. The Rao's sauce was particularly good. I'll buy that again for sure.

Some things to keep in mind: 

• You can also use full fat Greek Yogurt. Just make sure to use Greek--not Greek-style.
• If the dough is too dry, you can add a bit of water to help it stick together. I added a little more yogurt instead. 
• The thinner you roll the dough, the crisper the crust will be. You can suit yourself and have it crisp or a little softer. 
• Don't use too much sauce or your pizza might be soggy.
• The leftover slices (I didn't eat ALL of it) were not nearly as good the next day. This pizza is best eaten fresh baked. 
• Some internet versions use plain flour and add baking powder and salt instead of self-rising.
• There are many other ways to use this dough. Just Google "2-ingredient dough."
• If you have younger grandchildren, make this together with them. Or do it via Zoom like I'll do. It's easy enough.

Now. Do you need a cheery minute this week?  Eight cheery minutes to be exact. Go watch Buddy make pizzas!