HomeMade Pizza VS Domino Pizza: And the winner is.....

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, that I would like to call as the revolutionary period back home, because this was the time when internet was easily available to the us; youngsters looked beyond becoming either a doctor or an engineer and instead ventured into something new & trendy called the "IT jobs". Kellogg’s and instant noodles like Maggi became our breakfast favourites and Pizzas became the food of the "Yo" generation!
This is the time Domino’s pizza entered the Indian market with their endless pizzas and bottomless Coke deals, making it the ideal place to chill out with friends and family. Their Indian twist to the classic Italian made them very hard to resist and soon became our comfort food.
So, when I was offered to take up a challenge of making a classic Domino’s pizza from scratch at home and compare it with the original, I was ecstatic! I chose Veggie Volcano from their pizza menu and made it Roman style. I used basil flavoured olive oil to make the dough, a dash of barbeque sauce along with the pizza sauce and olives & grilled artichokes as additional toppings.I brushed some garlic butter for extra pizzazz. I also made another one with sautéed leeks, potato with mozzarella & pecorino romano skipping the tomato sauce. I would recommend you to read this before you make your own pizza.
Home-made Pizza recipe

For the dough

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2-3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed italian seasoning

3 tsbp olive oil (I used basil olive oil)

Method:

Mix the flour, salt, herbs, yeast, oil in a food processor to blend. With the machine running, add the warm water and whiz just until the dough forms. Dump the dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead well. Dough will be a little sticky. Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. and toss the ball of dough in the bowl and turn over to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with cling and set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume, about 1-2 hours. Punch the down dough and form into ball. The dough can be used immediately or stored airtight in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Suggested toppings

Ingredients

Onions sliced

Tomatoes

Olives

Artichokes

Peppers

Jalapeño

Home-made pasta/pizza sauce

Barbeque sauce

Seasalt flakes

Chilli flakes

Italian seasoning

Pecorino romano

Mozzarella

Cheddar

Parmesan

Assembly

Roll out the prepared dough as desired and spread the tomato & barbeque sauce liberally. Arrange desired toppings on this and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake this for about 15 minutes or until golden & bubbly. Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Verdict:

My neighbours have pizzas regularly and I knew they would be the right people to give an unbiased opinion on which one is better. My home-made pizzas won this challenge hands-down. When I asked the little kids for their "expert" opinion, they felt the one I made at home had more interesting toppings, the crust didn't go soggy even when cold and had more cheese options. Personally even the adults felt the same. I do think Dominos could include more interesting toppings & cheese varieties. At the end of the day, its much easier to just call and order a large pizza than making your own and covering yourself in flour whilst entertaining. I wish BKEnergy could try this irresistible pizza (it happens to be his favourite..cheeky me).