No-yeast Homemade Thin-crust Pizza

- zaty.

I was feeling bored so decided to make pizza for dinner. I've made it twice so far, and I think I've somewhat figured out what to (not) do if I wanted to make it again in the future.

I used the no-yeast pizza recipe from here, but because my family likes thin-crust pizza, I had it in the oven for about 15mins at 180degC. Make sure not to knead too much with your hands (the heat of your hands can affect the dough), don't use too much flour (it'll make the bread hard) or use butter to 'coat' the pizza pan/dish to prevent the dough from sticking to it (use a bit of oil and smear evenly... using butter makes the pizza bread too crispy).

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 Tbsp baking powder
3. 1/4 tsp salt
4. 2/3 cup water
5. 1 Tbsp cooking oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180degC.
2. Line the pizza pan/dish with baking paper, or smear a thin layer of cooking oil evenly (to prevent the pizza bread from sticking to the pan later).
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
4. Add the liquids into the bowl, and, using a wooden spoon, combine everything to make a rather solid dough.
5. Sprinkle some flour on a clean, flat surface, and place the dough on it. 
6. Knead the dough about 6 times to make sure all the ingredients are evenly combined.
7. Place the dough on the prepared pan/dish and flatten it to make a nice thin-crust bread (I use a small plastic roller to flatten the dough, super handy).
8. Once the dough looks good, smear a thin layer of cooking oil on the top surface of the dough (to prevent the tomato sauce base and/or toppings from making the pizza base soggy).
9. Scoop on and spread the tomato sauce base*** on the dough evenly
10. Scatter toppings^^^ onto the tomato base, and add herbs if desired (I love using basil, I just sprinkle it all over).
11. Scatter cheese (sprinkles, shreds, squares, chunks, whatever) to moderately cover the toppings. 
12. Place the pizza in the oven for about 15mins, until the topping becomes slightly brown. 
13. After it's done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a minute or two, then cut into desired way/size. Serve hot :D 

 *** I used a medium-sized can of pasta (tomato) sauce and a small can of tomato puree
^^^ I used chicken sausage cut into really thin slices, a handful of minced beef, crushed garlic, diced onions, diced tomatoes and crushed black pepper. I wish I had capsicum :T

 Will post up pic later Cheerios!

Super-easy Yoghurt Cake

- Zaty.

Today's baking is a a result of Carlo's story about his friend's mom who makes yoghurt cake (which is apparently one of the best cakes he's eaten), and a M'sian potluck thing (masquerading as a 'natural disaster' meeting). After much debate on what to bake, I surrendered and googled up 'yoghurt cake', and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the recipe seemed. It really is easy to make, just like how this recipe looks - no electric mixers, melting butters, kneading etc. Easy peasy. Just the way I like it. :P

Anyway, I got the recipe from here, but with a simple adjustment - I used the (150g) cup for single-serve yoghurts as the measuring tool. In other words, every ingredient is measured using this cup (aside from the eggs, of course... although 3 eggs do fill up the yoghurt cup nicely). :)

I made 2 cakes: one with raspberry+cream yoghurt, and the other was peach+cream yoghurt.

Will post up more pics later.

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This recipe makes a medium-sized cake.

Note: cup* = single-serve yoghurt cup

Ingredients 

• 1 cup* of yoghurt (fruity flavored is yumm)
• 1 cup* oil (I used my canola cooking oil)
• 2 cups* white sugar
• 3 cups* self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
  Optional: raspberry (or other) jam.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160degC.
2. In a bowl, beat the ingredients one-by-one with a wooden spatula until smooth and creamy. This might take a few minutes.
3. Pour smooth mixture into a greased/baking-paper lined pan. 
• Optional: Scoop some jam and slowly place it at the top of the batter. Use a chopstick or something long to squiggle or swirl the jam to give the cake extra flavour.
4. Bake for 1 hour or till golden brown (the fork should come out clean when poked).
5. Give about 10 mins to cool down, then cut and serve.
• Optional: After the cake has cooled down a bit, turn the cake out of the pan, and let it stand on its side. Cut the cake in the middle lengthways, and place both sides down. Spread some jam onto the 'fluffy' side of both halves, then enjoin the two parts the way it was before -- it should look like a 'jam sandwich' cake in the end.

Result?

Raspberry+cream yoghurt cake (see the swirley bit at the top? Hee ^_^)
Note: This is before I turned it into a sandwich cake.


I have some extra slices left, so I'll post some pics of what it looks like later.

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It's so easy to make, and it tastes nice if I do say so myself. Do try it! Have fun baking! :)