Pizza Base
Ingredients
- 500g of strong white flour
- 1 satchet of yeast
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 4 teaspoons of olive oil
- approx 300ml of water
- approx 100ml of milk
Preparing the base
- Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast all together in a big bowl.
- Poor the olive oil into the bowl.
- Poor in all the milk, and a little bit of the water (about 100ml) and, using your hands, mix it all together.
- Continue to add water, bit by bit, mixing into evenly into the flour. You want to make a big ball of dough, so that it all sticks together, however it shouldn't be too sticky.
- If it gets too sticky, just add some more flour. However you should stop adding water. It doesn't matter if you don't use all the water.
- Take the dough ball out of the bowl onto a flat surface.
Kneading the dough
The hardest and must physically guelling part of making pizza is kneading the dough. The purpose is to force lots of tiny air bubbles into the dough and also to mix up the ingredients. Place the dough on a flat surface and squash it out and fold it over. Repeat for about 15 minutes.
Letting the dough rise
Place the dough in a big bowl. Optionally cover the top tightly with cling film. Place the bowl in a slightly warm place for about one and a half hours. It should have doubled in size. I have experimented with putting it (sans cling film) into an over on a really low tempature (sub 50℃) and have had some success. After it's risen, squash it down a bit and knead it for about 5 minutes
Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
- 400g of tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of oregano
Make the sauce
- Mix all the ingredients in a pot.
- Heat it up on a hob, don't let it boil, just get hot. Stir regularly
- Leave for about half and hour until it about half the volume
Toppings
You can put any pizza toppings you like. Just pick what you'd like and chop them up small. Here I have (from left to right and back to front): Grated cheddar, 3 squashed up mozzarella balls, sliced mushrooms, sliced red onion, chopped green olives, and sliced red pepper.
Cooking
- When the dough has risen, and you've kneaded it again for 5 minutes, roll the dough very thinly on a tray. Rub some olive oil on the tray first to prevent the dough sticking. Then spread the sauce onto the dough
-
Place all the toppings onto the pizza, except for the cheese. - Put the pizza in an oven at 250℃ for 10 to 15 minutes
Take the pizza out of the oven and add the cheese to the top- Put back in the oven for another 5 minutes
- Take the pizza out, slice up and enjoy
Enjoy!
nom nom nom