Pizza must be the world’s favourite food. I’m not sure I know a single person who doesn’t love pizza. It can be eaten at home, in a restaurant or on the go. The choice of toppings are endless and are the source or cause of many arguments or debates. I’m firmly in the “no pineapple on pizza” camp and also a big believer in “less is more” when it comes to toppings – one or two at most.
So many people order takeaway pizza each week and spend quite a bit of money doing so. Making your own pizza at home is much cheaper and healthy in that you get to control the ingredients used.
I use a bread maker to make my pizza dough but you can easily make it by hand. Whichever method you use to make your dough, leaving it to prove is essential. Proving allows the dough to rise and is the rest period in the fermentation process. It is best to put the dough into a bowl and cover with a tea-towel and leave it in a warm place for 30-60 minutes.
Once your dough has risen and is ready you can then divide it into individual portions for each pizza. I usually use between 130g and 150g dough for each pizza.
Roll out your dough to your desired thickness. I like an Italian style thin crust. You can either use a pizza tray or a pizza stone to bake your pizza. If you are using a pizza stone you need to heat it in the oven for at least 30 minutes in advance of using it. You will also need a pizza paddle to transfer the pizza to the stone in the oven. If you use a pizza tray then one with holes is best as it helps to bake the base more evenly.
I use my tomato sauce recipe and cook the sauce while the dough is proving.
You can use any toppings you like but some examples include pepperoni, salami, bacon, sausage, ham, courgette, sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic, olives, roasted peppers, mozzarella. Remember “less is more” when it comes to pizza toppings. Too many toppings make the slice too heavy but also means you can’t taste any one topping.
Neither of my sons like cheese on their pizza and my oldest son loves a “marinara” pizza – tomato sauce only.
In Italy marinara pizza is on most menus but here in Ireland and France it is not common and in fact we have gotten free pizza for him in both countries as each time the restaurant couldn’t imagine a pizza without cheese and so couldn’t bring themselves to charge for it!
Lots of dinner plates have a lip on the edge so don’t really work for pizza. I bought some pizza specific plates and I love them. You can see them in the main photo.
Another pizza that many people don’t think about is “sweet” pizza. By that I mean pizza with sweet toppings like nutella and fruits.I will do another post on how to make sweet pizza. You have to try it sometime – it is really delicious.
Pizza
Ingredients
- 320 g strong white flour
- 215 ml lukewarm water
- 5 g yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbls olive oil
- 1 tomato sauce (from my tomato sauce recipe)
- toppings
Instructions
- If you are using a bread maker combine the flour, water, yeast. sugar, salt and olive oil in your machine and turn to the pizza cycle. Skip ahead to step 6
- If making by hand, sieve the flour into a large bowl and add the yeast, sugar and salt
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the olive oil and lukewarm water
- Bring together by hand or with a wooden spoon until you have a soft dough
- Kneed for 5-10 minutes until smooth and springy
- Leave to prove for 30-45 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 240 C
- Divide the dough into individual pieces for each pizza
- On a well floured surface, round the dough and roll it out thinly.
- To assemble your pizza, place the dough pizza base on your baking tray and add the tomato sauce and toppings
- If using a pizza stone, assemble the pizza on your worktop and then use your pizza paddle to transfer to the stone
- Bake for 5-7 minutes until the crust looks baked and the cheese is melted
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