Gourmet Pizza at Home
I have recently started making Pizza out of necessity. Our eldest daughter, Georgiana, from the age of three started developing swellings in the cheek after having pizza. Further investigation revealed that it was the seeds in certain tomatoes that she was allergic to. As a nut and certain seed allergy sufferer it made sense.
Our youngest daughter, Chanel, had a pizza party for her birthday and we try not to limit what one child has for the sake of another. Georgiana is thankfully fine with tomato paste and ketchup. I have been experimenting and finally came up with a combination that suits not just her but my husband who up until this was not a fan of pizza. This recipe is so easy, which is a victory for me as well as a recipe creator as its simplicity means anyone can make it.
DOUGH (2 medium or 4 thin pizzas)
Ingredients
Dough
300ml warm water
2 1/2 tsp of Dried Yeast
550g Strong bread Flour, (I always used to wonder why stores sell bread flour when there is a variety of bread to choose from. Secondly, who are these people who actually make bread at home on a regular basis to make production of bread flour sustainable?)
4 tbsp Olive oil
1 level tsp Sea Salt
handful of maize meal/polenta
Sauce for each medium pizza, (convert tsp to tbsp for large pizza)
1 tsp Ketchup
1 tsp Tomato paste
Drizzle of olive oil
Dash of lemon (optional)
Method
Starting with the dough, in a large bowl, add the yeast and salt to the warm water and stir until fully dissolved.
Next add 3 tbsp of olive oil, half the flour and start mixing, then add the rest and work into a dough.
Add the last 1 tbsp of oil onto the kneaded dough and work it in to give you a nice elastic mixture.
Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise, usually 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
Split the dough into the size and thickness as you wish, roll out on a surface covered with maize meal/polenta, (this gives the soft dough texture when cooked and is beautiful on the palate).
Mix the ketchup, tomato paste, olive oil and lemon into a paste and spread onto the pizza.
Place the base on a pizza baking tray.
Add your topping of choice, (cooked toppings).
Bake in a 200c pre heated oven for 15-20mins for thick pizzas or 12-15 mins for a thin one until the crust is golden brown.
Once it has cooked, add your garnish just before serving.
TIP
When kneading, roll the dough forward and backwards, and with your hands push, stretch and pull until you have a smooth, soft dough. This process usually takes 10 minutes.
When the dough has risen, you can split the dough into two halves and freeze one for use at a later date, but we have serious pizza parties with all the trimmings so that’s never been an option.
For cheese, we use Buffalo mozzarella, that stringly shredded mozzarella just wont cut it!, grated cheddar and parmesan. Use as much as you like. Just be sure to spread both under and over the topping(s) of choice
Choice of garnish; oregano, sun dried tomatoes, pickled chillies, wasabi rocket (our fav), watercress and baby leaf spinach are some of the ones we use
You can purchase Pizza cooking trays from our Amazon choices page here 👉shop by heading straight to the kitchen section.