Everyone loves pizza and in my opinion its a great way to get my four children experimenting and prepping in the kitchen at the weekend. Toppings are entirely up to you but get the base right and you will never go wrong. I tend to make a double batch of dough (recipe below) and once proved into balls I freeze it into individually bags. Simply for ease and speed. The flour I use is 00 pasta flour which I use for so many recipes, not just pasta and pizza. The 00 flour once paired with the extra virgin olive oil makes a perfect elastic pizza dough. I am lucky to have an external pizza oven in my garden but this isn’t essential. All you need is a very hot oven and either a pizza stone which are relatively inexpensive and will last forever or a large baking tray both will need preheating and hot prior to use. This will ensure the pizza has a crispy base and cooks quickly.
For the tomato topping I use Cirio tomato passata that I add, fresh basil, oregano and garlic too. Toppings can be anything you fancy (apart from pineapple or tikka marsala of course). My favourite would be sliced artichoke , olive and salami. The key it to try to not overload your pizza but this I know from experience is easier said than done especially if you’ve just visited your local Italian deli and have a fridge full of delicious ingredients. I also use this dough to make filled and folded calzone, dough balls and stromboli filled bread. But to this day without fail Nonna Carmela still makes the best pizza. Simple tomato sauce cooked down and flavoured with chilli, fresh herbs and garlic, that’s it, simplicity at its best.
Who’s hungry? Lets make pizza!
Pizza Dough – Southern Italian Family Cooking
900g 00 pasta flour
10g salt (Maldon)
14g dried yeast or 7g fresh yeast
550ml tepid water
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp oregano (optional)
Makes 6 large pizzas.
Place the flour into a large bowl.
Add the salt to one side of the bowl and sprinkle in the yeast to the opposite side, keeping the salt and yeast separate will ensure the salt doesn’t kill the yeast.
Make a well in the center and pour in the olive oil. Gently pour in the water a little at a time and stir with a wooden spoon to form a dough.
Tumble out onto a clean lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough back into a cleaned oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea-towel and allow to prove for 1 hour to 24 hours.
Once the dough has proved cut it into small balls of around 200g each. Roll into balls and cover, allow to prove for a further 30 minutes.
Ready, steady, make!!
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