Pizza,Pizza,Pizza!

As I mentioned before,I'm a lover of Italy and all things Italian. So what happens when a baking enthusiast and an Italian lover collide? Homemade Pizzas!! I started making pizzas at home a few years ago and now its a bit of a tradition,everytime my family come round for a bite to eat,they know they're getting pizzas. Ireland were playing against France in the Rugby Six Nations on Sunday evening soooo out came the pizza trays!

Recipe for Pizza

Make three 9" pizzas

 

Ingredients for roasted tomato sauce

• 450g (1lb) tomatoes,halved
• 3 cloves of garlic,peeled and kept whole
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Salt,ground black pepper
• 1 tsp caster sugar

Ingredients for pizza dough

• 350g (12oz) strong white flour,sifted
• 1 level tsp salt
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 x 7g sachet fast-acting yeast
• 2 tbsp olive oil,plus extra for brushing
• 175-200ml (6-7fl oz) warm water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220°C.
To make the roasted tomato sauce,place the halved tomatoes in a baking dish. Add the garlic cloves randomly,drizzle with oil and vinegar and season with salt,pepper and sugar to taste. Cook in the preheated oven for a bout 20 minutes until soft and blistered in appearance.

 

Liquidise! You can put it through a sieve but I don't bother,the sauce needs to be made thick enough to cover the back of a spoon. If it needs thickening,put in a saucepan,bring to boil and reduce to thicken. I always have lots of sauce left over so I freeze it for next time.

For the Pizza dough

 

1. Place the flour,salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix. Rub in the butter,add the yeast and mix together. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients,add the oil and most, but not all, of the warm water and mix to a loose dough. Add more water or flour if you need it.
2. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface,cover with a clean tea towel for 5 minutes. Then knead the dough until smooth and slightly springy to the touch,I do it in a food mixer for about 5 mins using the dough hook,by hand it'll take about 10 mins and muscle power! Leave rest for another 5 mins.
3. After relaxing, divide your dough,depending on what size pizzas you want,I usually divide it into 3,this makes about a plate size pizza.You can do these ahead of time and keep in the fridge,just brush them with olive oil and cover with cling film.

So now we have the sauce and pizza dough done, it's the fun part.


Turn your oven up as high as you can,I don't use fan assisted for the pizzas as the outside will burn.Roll out your dough on a floured surface,place on a pizza tray or a baking try,put on your sauce and toppings.

We went for mozzarella,ham,pineapple and salami. I love adding grated Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano). Into the oven for 8-10 mins depending on your oven and voila!

Enjoy!

Shirley.