Donna Hay Inspired Pizzas With No Tomato Sauce...

Pizza, pizza and more pizza. That's what Sweet child would live on...24x7. Me, I love pizza too, but what with all the cheese and white flour that goes into it-I go into paroxysms of guilt. And then we saw Donna Hay, with her adorable Aussie accent and spectacularly sparkling white kitchen cook up pizzas with puff pastry...I was sorely tempted to let go of my resolve for the time being. I had a small Square...really small.

Yup, I'm showing off the new collection of Lakme Nail Enamels. If you like it , the colour is 256- it has no name...just a lovely purlishious pink.

A word about Donna Hay, love the fact that every thing around her is so white...almost like St Peter at heaven's Pearly gates. The iridescence of the white background just elevates her food to a standard so high, I'm sure not many can keep up with her. I did watch Eric Lanard the fabulous French Pastry Chef, but he is sooooo secretive about the proportions, and the lady doing the voice over just so drowns his cute french accen(t). What a waste!
Last Batch of puff pastry coming up here.
So now I will have a blog post about how to make Puff Pastry the baketitude way.
The only disadvantage- even with the least possible amount of cheese , this is still not low in fat.(sob). All good things are frightfully expensive!
Well, as long as they are GOOD!
So ,OK ,small doses.

All I had was about 250 gms of Puff Pastry, I had to thaw it for about 25 to 30 mins. I also tried to dehydrate some tomato slices in the oven, I did tell you that the tomatoes are from my own back yard and are very juicy. The absolute last thing I wanted was a watery pizza topping, so i sliced them as thin as I could and popped them in the oven with some herbs and olive oil.You do not need to use tomatoes, ant thing will do,I also had some red pepper- ate most of it even before the pizzas were dressed.

Just so that you know,these are not the toppings that Donna Hay used, only the puff pastry base and the shape of the pizza are the same. The rest, its a wild, wild world.

Been long since Maxi Priest sang this...

Used to love his version of a classic...

Lets get down to doing the work.
For these

Donna Hay Inspired Pizzas With No Tomato Sauce...

you need

250 gm-approx half pound puff pastry
100 gms mozzarella-I used 50 gm cottage cheese and 50 gms Amul mozzarella-shredded
Oregano, salt ,red chili flakes to taste
a few sliced olives, Sliced tomatoes, sliced red bell pepper or whatever you wish to top your pizza with.

Preheat your oven to 230C/450F

Shred the cheese- in my case the cheeses. Mozzarella has a higher percentage of fat,cottage cheese is negligible(homemade with skim milk).

Oven Dried the tomatoes. I should have let them sit in a sieve after salting them first- that way the tomatoes would've turned out drier and crisper. They cooked at 150C/300F for almost 30 minutes.

All right, the puff pastry was workable now. Rolled to 1/5 of an inch thin in a rectangular shape.

Fluted pastry cutter, two equalish rectangles....Extras into the bin...basket...and score. That is why I opted for a bin with a flap, just aim and shoot. Only need to pick up stuff when I miss...and until I'm a few shots down myself, I am proud to say I NEVER miss!

Just about a cm from the edges, spread the cheese mix.

Pinch the edges to make a tray shape that will hold the toppings. you may need to wet the edges a bit to ensure they are glued .

The tomatoes, the pimento stuffed olives...

The sliced bell pepper and the seasonings.

The pastry is on the Al foil and baking tray all this while, you don't want the pizza to topple before its cooked,do you?
By now the oven should be HOT!
In for approximately 9 minutes. You could do both together actually, I was directing sweet child to study from across the hall. So my mind was taking only baby steps.

Only thing, this is one pizza that can be cut into small squares and served as an appetizer with drinks or as a simple mid day snack. Yumm...Yummville!

Puff Pastry is so versatile, just like your wardrobe essential white shirt. Serve it with panache or slum with it in bed...whatever, it never ceases to please!

No wonder every one is so in love with it. Really envy those who can just pop over to the market and buy their supply of Puff Pastry. I/m going to have to slum it out and Knead and Roll and Fold and roll and fold....
BTW...good Puff Pastry has 729 layers....because it is 3^6. 

3 multiplied by itself 6 times. 3 times folded , 3 times. Math , you find it every where!
And here it pays back...with fantastic taste.


So what are you baking today!