Middle Eastern Pizza – With Mince and Baharat Spice – Vegetarian Version Included

My Middle Eastern Pizza – is different. It is ‘Middle East’ inspired and uses ‘Baharat’ Spice. I usually make it using minced meat but I use  only vegetables when I’m going vegetarian. So you can take your pick. It’s an awesome recipe that I am sharing today.

Middle Eastern Pizza – With Mince and Baharat Spice

Ingredients:  for 1 large or 2 medium pizzas

For the Pizza Base:

• ½ Tbsp fast acting yeast
• ½Tbsp Castor sugar
• ½ cup lukewarm water
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil

For the Home made Pizza Sauce:

• 1 large onions, diced finely
• 2 Cloves garlic or to taste -, miced finely
• 3 large Tomatoes

For the minced toppings:

• 1 ½ cups ground beef, rinsed well, drained
• 2 onions, minced finely
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp ground mixed spices ( a combination of white and black pepper, paprika, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon)

Other toppings:

• ½ a can of mushrooms, sliced ( or use fresh button mushrooms)
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut into squares
• ½ cup of black olives, sliced
• 1½ cup of grated Mozzarella Cheese
• Olive Oil, flour for dusting
• Dried Oregano for sprinkling

Method:

Prepare the Crust:

• Mix the yeast in sugar in exactly ½ cup of LUKEWARM water and set aside till frothy.
• To a bowl, add the flour, salt and mix.
• Add the frothy yeast solution as well as the olive oil.
• Mix with a fork till the dough clumps together.
• Then knead with hands till you get a nice smooth, elastic dough.
• Form into a ball, rub a little olive oil on the surface.
• Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside for ½ hour
• After half and hour, knock down genlty and spread into your pizza pan, that has been lightly oiled and sprinkled with flour. Spread to reach the edges of the pan.
• Make little gashes in the pizza base with a table knife.
• Allow to sit while you are chopping up the vegetable toppings.

Make the sauce and mince.

For the Pizza Sauce:

• Boil the Tomatoes till pulpy and soft. Peel off the skin. Blend to a puree without water.
• Add the onion and garlic to a pan with some olive oil and saute.
• When golden, add the tomato puree, salt and pepper and cook down till you get a nice thickened sauce.
• If using a microwave:
• Add the onion, garlic and ½ Tbsp olive oil to a microwave safe bowl. Stir once..
• Microwave on High, covered for 2 minutes.
• Stir (careful while opening – hot steam).
• Add the tomato puree ( do not add water), salt and pepper to taste and microwave covered on High for 5 minutes.
• Open. Stir. Cover. Microwave on Medium for 7 minutes.
• Check to see if thickened. Or cook a bit longer.

For the Pizza with Mince : Minced topping:

(For vegetarian version add the spice powder straight into the tomato sauce. )

• Heat some olive oil.
• Saute the onion and garlic till softened.
• Add the mince. Saute and fry .
• Add the spice powder and salt. Cook till done. Set Aside.

Assemble:

• Preheat oven to 195ºc /383 ºF ( place pizza stone in oven if using)
• Spread an even layer of sauce all over the base, I like to get it over the edges too.
• Next, spread and even layer of mince all over – OMIT this for vegetarian pizza.
• Place the sliced, mushroom, olives and bell pepper aesthetically over the pizza.
• Sprinkle cheese over all the toppings. And sprinkle oregano last.  Sprinkle. Not too much.
• Move the pan into the oven or slide onto the Pizza stone.
• Bake for 10- 15 minutes( this varies from oven to oven , check to make sure the crust is cooked, I check with a fork) and don’t allow the bottom of the crust to go too dark, it should be a golden color.
• Slide the pizza out of the oven and use a pizza cutter to slice.
• Enjoy and let me know how it turned out for you. 🙂

Middle Eastern Pizza – With Mince and Baharat Spice

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