My beautiful husband loves few things more than pizza. With yesterday being his birthday, I thought I might do something special for dinner. I’ve been experimenting with yeast breads recently...and must remember to post my dinner rolls recipe which is a delight. Buoyed by my recent ability to make flour and yeast bend to my will, I decided to make Ant a pizza.
The toppings are fun to play with, but getting the base right is the key. Birthday Pizza had crispy crumbled bacon, baby spinach, grated parmesan and fresh mozzarella. I used a simple tomato passata (but not too much) as the base. You could really play with this element a lot – could use BBQ sauce, could use an alfredo sauce...maybe even a hoisin sauce. Just figure out a harmonious meat/sauce/veggie/cheese combination and go for it.
Pizza base:
Ingredients -
· 1 ½ cups plain flour
· 1 teaspoon dried yeast
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon sugar
· 155 mls lukewarm water
· 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (I used a garlic infused olive oil and it was amazing)
Method -
Place the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the centre and add all the water and olive oil to the dry ingredients. The water needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast and encourage it to grow but not so hot that it kills the yeast. Stir mix until combined and then use your hands to bring the dough together in the bowl. It should be soft and slightly sticky.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes, or until the dough is almost smooth. You will probably need to re-flour your work space a few times until it all comes together. For a pizza, the dough doesn’t need to be as well worked as for bread. Brush a large bowl with olive oil to grease. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it over to lightly coat the surface with the olive oil. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and place in a warm, draught-free place to allow the dough to rise. Leave the dough until it doubles in size - about 1 hour.
Once the dough doubles, punch it down in the centre and knead lightly in the bowl for 20-30 seconds until the dough is smooth and has returned to its original size. Do not overwork - the dough should be soft and easy to roll out. This dough makes 1 pizza crust with a medium thickness crust.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Brush a round pizza tray (I used a pizza tray that had holes in the bottom, allowing the crust to really get crispy) with a bit of olive oil to lightly grease. Sprinkle with a little flour. The flour will help give the pizza a crisp, dry base. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until almost large enough to line the prepared pizza tray. Lift the dough onto the tray and use your hands to gently ease the dough out to the edge, allowing it to come a little up the side to form a thicker edge when baked. Bake the crust for about five minutes before topping the pizza and continuing the baking.
Use the back of a spoon to spread the pizza sauce over the pizza base, avoiding the edge. Place the mozzarella under all the other topping ingredients so it remains soft and stringy. If placed on the top, it can over brown and toughen.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes. The pizza is ready when it shrinks from the sides of the trays and slides off easily.
No comments:
Post a Comment