Let me start today by saying Happy St. David’s Day! Have a great day to all those who are celebrating it.

OK, on with the recipe.

This is a great recipe to know if you are the kind of person who likes to be able to whip something up and serve it to family or friends and have them all go “Oooooooh, you made pizza”

This didn’t quite happen when I made it as my mum and sister knew I was making pizza and we all just scoffed it as soon as I had finished taking pictures of it. Pizza is always seen as something you order in from the professionals so to make it yourself and have it taste as if you’ve just pulled it from a wood-fired oven somewhere deep in the Tuscan hills is something that is way out of the home cook’s reach.

Or is it?

My pizza dough recipe is based on Jamie Oliver’s and is one that has always worked for me but I found it too salty and too sweet. So I have altered it to suit my taste. You may wish to add more sugar or salt.

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Makes four pizzas

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 x 7g sachet of easy bake / quick action yeast
• 300 ml warm water (luke warm not hot)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

I put the yeast and the water in to a bowl and mixed it together. Then I sieved the flour and put it, along with the salt and sugar, in to the bowl of my mixer with the dough hook attached. I added the olive oil and the yeast/water mixture to the bowl and began to mix slowly, folding the flour in on itself. The mixer had kneaded the dough in to a stretchy state within about 7 to 10 minutes.

If you are doing this by hand make a well in the sifted flour/sugar/salt mixture and slowly add the wet ingredients to the middle of the well. Folding all of the ingredients in to one another until mixed and then knead until stretchy.

When you have finished kneading the dough sprinkle some flour on to the top of the dough ball and either keep it in the mixer bowl or place it in to a new mixing bowl. Cover it with a damp tea towel and put it in a warm place for an hour or until doubles in size. The reason for sprinkling the flour on top of the dough is to stop it from sticking to the tea towel as the dough rises.

Once it’s risen remove it from the bowl and knead it further for a few more minutes on a floured surface. Then divide the dough in to four pieces and roll out to a size and thickness you prefer for your pizza.

You can wrap the dough in cling-film if you want to keep it until later.

Spicy Sausage Pizza Topping -

• Squeeze three sausages out of their skins and in to a hot pan with a glug of olive oil
• Add one chopped red onion
• One crumbled dried red chili
• One tablespoon of dried oregano
• A glug of balsamic vinegar
• Season with salt and pepper
• Gently fry until the the meat is brown and cooked but not burnt

The rest of the pizza topping and baking the pizza -

• Mix three tablespoons of passata with one teaspoon of minced garlic and spread this mixture all over the uncooked pizza base
• Place one sliced ball of Mozzarella evenly over the base on top of the passata mixture
• Sprinkle on the sausage meat topping
• Add whatever else takes your fancy. I added sliced cherry tomatoes, capers, sliced artichoke hearts to bake on top and fresh basil once it was cooked
• Cook or grill in a hot oven for eight to ten minutes or on the floor of the AGA roasting oven depending on your cooker. Ensure that the cheese has melted and that the base is firm before removing
• Season to taste

You can add, change and experiment with the toppings all you like but I would heartily recommend keeping the passata/garlic combo firmly in place in this recipe. It gives the pizza a great base for you to get started with.

Homemade pizza is great for supper, birthdays, watching the football with or taking on a picnic when the weather is warmer. But most of all homemade pizza is great because …. you know what I’m going to say …. because the smell that comes from the oven and fills the house when you’re baking it will have you waiting by the oven door in anticipation of what’s to come.

I love you and I hope you all have the best Tuesday you’ve ever had.

Cherry x

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Cherry Menlove

Related posts:

1. How To Make Pasta – Pasta Week Day One
2. How To Make Ravioli – Mushroom and Walnut Recipe
3. How To Make a Gingerbread Village – Part One
4. Sausage, Sage & Chestnut Stuffing Balls
5. How To Make A Classic Beef & Onion Meat Pie

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