Home Made Pizza

Makes 4 large pizzas

Ingredients for dough:

500g strong white bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1x7g sachet dried yeast
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
350ml lukewarm water

Ingredients for base:

400g tinned tomatoes
tomato purée
salt & pepper
1-2 clove(s) garlic

Ingredients for toppings:

pesto
sundried tomatoes
mushrooms
goats cheese
mozzerella
parmesan
rocket
spinach
blue cheese
beetroot
balsamic vinegar
cheddar cheese

Method:

- First things first, make the dough. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt, mixing it through.

- In a mixing jug, add the oil and sugar to the water, then add the yeast and mix thoroughly. Leave it alone for a few minutes until it starts to froth up. Make a well in the centre of the flour and begin to incorporate the liquid mixture in slowly, mixing the flour into the liquid with a fork.

-Once the dough begins to form, turn out onto a well floured surface and begin to knead with floured hands. Knead the dough until it forms into a springy ball (about 10 minutes). Once kneaded, leave to rise for an hour in a floured bowl (flour the top of the dough as well), covered with a damp cloth. 

- While the dough is rising, prepare all of the other ingredients, starting with the pizza sauce. Mince the garlic finely and sauté in a little oil in a saucepan, for a minute or so on a medium heat. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and salt and pepper, and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce, then take it off the heat.

- It's also a good idea to lay out all of your ingredients and get them prepared so it's easy to just throw them onto the pizza base once it's onto the baking tray. For the pizza I made, I used goats cheese, beetroot, rocket on one half, and mushrooms and pesto (from a jar, oops) on the other.

- 15 minutes before the dough has finished rising, pre-heat the oven as high as it will go, with a baking tray inside it to heat up as well. 

- Once the dough has risen (after about an hour), knead once more on a floured surface to 'knock it back', for about 5 minutes. This dough should portion into about 4 medium pizzas. In my experience, I've found it easiest to do one pizza at a time. So, roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin into whatever shape you wish, be it square, round, oval, triangle, whatever, just make sure it's thin! 

- When it's thin enough, take the baking tray out from the oven, dust with flour, and transfer the base (carefully!) across to it, then go crazy with toppings! Add the sauce first, then all the toppings you desire, and finally the cheese on top. Try and do this as quickly as possible so the tray doesn't cool down too much.

- Once all the toppings are on, put into the oven at 200°C, until golden and crispy (about 15 minutes ish?)

Et voila!