Pizza

Pizza is an Italian classic and is at the top of the comfort/feel good foods both in UK and USA. It’s also easy and inexpensive to make. There are two main parts. First is the pizza dough as we are making a flatbread The second part is the topping, which usually consists of tomato and cheese plus whatever you like, giving almost unlimited possibilities of flavours.

Here’s a simple style of pizza I make for the family. It makes four 8-inch pizzas – or one big one!

Ingredients

500g Strong bread flour
270ml Water
3 tbls Olive oil
1 tsp Dried yeast
1 tsp Salt
1 tbls Tomato puree
100g Grated Cheese. Typically mozzarella, but any melting cheese (or cheeses) will do.

Method

In a large bowl add the flour, yeast and salt. Mix briefly with your hand and then form a well in the centre and add the oil and most of the water. Mix well and if necessary add the rest of the water until all the mixture comes together in a ball.

On a floured or lightly oiled surface, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until it is smooth and soft. (If you have a food mixer with a dough hook you can use the machine to do this).

Form a ball and place the dough back in the bowl, cover the bowl with cling film (plastic wrap) and leave for 45 minutes or more until the dough doubles in size. This is called ‘proving’ the dough.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and form a ball. Flatten the ball and try to make a flat circular piece of dough about 8 inches in diameter. You don’t need to be precise, make it irregular or square it you have to! Place the dough on a thin baking tray. By the way, you can keep any unused dough in the fridge and make another pizza tomorrow!

Using the back of a spoon, put a thin coat of tomato puree over the pizza.

Add a topping of your choice (although you can just use cheese). I usually add a sliced mushroom, a slice of ham ripped into pieces and a few thin slices of onion. Sprinkle herbs over if you like.

Sprinkle over the cheese. Really, you can have as much or as little as you like. More than one type of cheese can enhance the flavour. Drizzle over a little olive oil.