Perfect Pizzas
Ingredients for the base
(For 3 11 inch pizzas)
- 500g flour (plain flour, we are using yeast here!)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 300 ml lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons dried yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Ingredients for the piazzaiola
(The tomato stuff to cover the base)
- One onion
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 clove of garlic
- 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- a couple of leafs of fresh basil
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- a pinch of freshly ground pepper
Toppings (per pizza)
(These toppings are just an example, use whatever you like)
- one mozarella cheese (also nice: reggiano parmesan and medium cheddar)
- 2 slices of parma ham
- 2 slices of salami
Method
- Put the flour into a bowl.
- Mix the yeast with the sugar and 50ml of the lukewarm water and stir, let sit for 10 minutes until it develops a nice foam on top.
- Add the olive oil and salt to the flour.
- Now add the yeast to the flour, oil and salt and add the rest of the lukewarm water (250 ml). Mix with your hands and knead until you have a smooth dough. If you have any left-over dough, you can easily freeze it - I always make a bit more and keep the rest in the freezer for a quick supper.
- Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel and let it sit for an hour.
- In the meantime, prepare a simple pizzaiola - chop the onion and the garlic, fry in the olive oil, add the tomatoes and the spices. Let simmer for half an hour to reduce the moisture, take a blender to it and then let it cool down.
- Now is the time to preheat your oven to 240 degrees C - Gas Mark 9 (pretty much full blast).
- Take 1/3 of the dough and spread it out into the pizza pan with your fingers. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes so it can rise again. If you want a very thin and crisp base, roll out the dough with a rolling pin instead of spreading it with your fingers.
- Chop the mozarella.
- Chop up your toppings - I'm using ham and salami here.
- Spread the piazzaiola - best done by putting it into the middle and then moving the pan quickly back and forth.
- Put on your toppings, don't overdo it on the topping side - stick with 2 or 3 toppings and don't put on too much. An overloaded pizza isn't any good.
- Put on the cheese.
- Place the pizza into the pre-heated oven for approx. 20 minutes. If you find that your cheese starts to burn before the pizza base is done, put the pizza into the oven without the cheese for 5 minutes and then add the cheese.
