Home-made Pizza – a little effort, but well worth it.

My husband and daughter have always been huge fans of Eurovision.

Me, not so much –  perhaps due to too many replays of ‘All kinds of Everything’ in my childhood. However, love it or hate it, it comes round every year and has become a kind of tradition in our house. A big part of the tradition on the part of the husband and daughter was the ceremonial eating of pizza accompanied by copious amounts of diet Coke (personally I need strong drink to get through it).

All of the above has led us nicely to today’s recipe – home-made Pizza, where you can be sure that there’s only good stuff in it, and with your own personal choice of toppings too.

Here’s my take on it – I have no idea where I got this recipe, but it’s always worked for me –

Sure give it a go.. even Graham Norton will be impressed!

EQUIPMENT:

• A large bowl
• a large baking tray

INGREDIENTS: This will make one large thin crust pizza – (see pictures) or 3-4 small individual ones.

• 8oz of Strong white flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 pint of warm water
• 1 sachet of easy-to-use yeast (7g)

TOPPINGS:

• You’ll always need some Mozzarella cheese for this, torn into pieces if it’s fresh Buffalo Mozzarella, or grated if it’s a more robust type;  or Cheddar if you prefer.
• Sundried tomato paste, or Tomato puree (or even a really well drained can of tinned tomatoes, chopped up)
• Try a selection of the following, whatever suits your taste best: shredded cooked ham, thinly sliced red onions, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, bacon (cooked), chorizo, anchovies, Parma ham, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian herbs, peppers, chilli –  the list is endless – we had lovely pizza in Rome once, with just thinly sliced cooked potatoes and herbs – proper street food.
• Remember to have everything very thinly sliced, as there’s only about a 10-15 minute cooking time.

METHOD:

• Sift the flour into the large bowl
• Sprinkle in the dried yeast and salt and pepper, and mix in
• Add the oil and warm water, and mix together well, firstly with a flat-bladed knife, and then with your hands

• knead well for about 5 minutes until it’s elastic and shiny.
• Rub some extra oil around the bowl, then leave the dough in it, covered, in a warm spot for about 40 minutes until doubled in size.
• Remove the dough from the bowl, and drop it onto a lightly floured surface

 

• Dust the baking tray with flour too
• Push and pull, or roll out, the dough into the shape you want, making sure that it doesn’t get too thin, or sticks to the surface. It’s fairly tough, so don’t be too nervous with it. If you’re doing individual Pizzas, now’s the time to divide it up before rolling.

• Lift it up and place it onto the floured baking tray.
• Heat your oven to 200Fan
• Add a layer of tomato puree, and a good sprinkling of your chosen ingredients

• Once decorated to your satisfaction, sprinkle over the Mozzarella, then put it  straight into the oven for between 10 and 15 minutes, until it’s puffed and browned, and the cheese has melted.

• Slide the Pizza off the tray onto a large board and cut it into slices or manageable portions.
• If it’s Eurovision night, climb into your sequinned body suit and platform shoes, then serve in front of the Telly, washed down with as much Coke as they can drink. Some paper napkins will come in handy for sticky fingers.
• Wait for the results of the Home jury – it will be ‘Douze points’ for sure!!

NOTES:

• Truthfully, almost anything goes as a topping – just make sure that it’s not too wet (that will make the base soggy), and that everything is thinly sliced to allow for the short cooking time.
• Grated Mozzarella is easier to spread than the torn type
• Today, I didn’t have any strong white flour, so I just used normal Plain flour, and it turned out fine.