I make my own pizzas. I'll just type it as I remember it and in the order I prepare it. I bought a book by Jamie Oliver from his trip around Italy and I've really enjoyed making some of the recipes he had in there although I usually change them a bit. I'm not so fond of rabbit or pigs.
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Sauce
- extra virgin olive oil
- clove of garlic minced or sliced
- a bunch of fresh basil washed and leaves taken off stems (bunch = a fair bit lol)
- 400 g of roma italian tomatoes (the egg shaped low acidic ones I use) or a tin/can of diced tomatoes
- pinch of sea salt
- ground black pepper
I cook the garlic in the oil but don't overcook the garlic then add the tomatoes and the basil and salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Turn it right down to simmer and let simmer for an hour or so, doesn't really matter. Just cook till it reduces and thickens up. While it's cooking I use a fork from time to time to mush it up. Could use a processor I guess, but a fork works.
OK, so while that's on the stove and making the house smell amazing, it's time to prepare the dough for the bases.
Pizza dough.
I usually halve this quantity if I'm only wanting to make a few pizzas. It's a lot of flour and dough. I usually buy a special bread mix which comes with the flour and the yeast ready in a box rather than use regular flour.
- 800g / 1 3/4 lb strong white bread flour
- 200g / 7oz fine ground semolina (or if you don't want semolina, you need to add that quantity back in with more strong white flour)
- 1 level tablespoon of sea salt
- 2 x 7 oz sachets of dried yeast
- 1 tablespoon of caster sugar (I usually just use regular old raw sugar)
- approx 650mls or just over 1 pint of lukewarm water
Put the flours and salt in a large bowl. Don't attempt to make this by putting the flour on the kitchen bench because the dam walls will burst and you'll have flours and yeast all over the kitchen. Believe me!
Put the yeast and sugar in a bowl or jug with the lukewarm water. Mix well and let sit for a few minutes.
Then pour into a well in centre of the flour in the bowl. Mix in the flour from the sides into the liquid in the centre. It doesn't take long. I use my floured hands. Once it's all combined in a big lump, flour the board on the bench or use the bench and then knead for about 10 mins. There's an art to kneading and the more you make these the better and faster it gets.
Let it sit in a covered bowl until you're ready to make it. I usually leave it while the tomatoes cook.
OK, what's next. Don't forget you need to preheat the oven before cooking.
Preheat oven to 250C or 500F or Gas mark 9.
When oven is hot and you're ready to rock and roll, then take a lump of the dough and roll it out on the bench. I use a little semolina flour to do this because I like the taste and texture it leaves on the cooked pizza.
I use a special pizza base for the oven which has dozens of holes in the bottom of it. It tends to allow the base to cook nicely rather than go soggy in the middle.
Spread the tomato mixture over the dough on the pizza tray and then top with whatever you like. I mix them up a bit and don't forget to put more of the fresh basil leaves on the top when you're ready to put in the oven. (That's if you like basil).
Cook for about 7 or 10 minutes but that depends on whether you've made tiny little ones or great big ones.
Enjoy. Oh, If I've forgotten something I'll add it tomorrow LOL
