From Scratch Pizza

Pizza is one of those foods that so far everyone I know likes, shop brought and takeaway pizzas are good and quick, but nothing beats a homemade pizza. Now pizza is even better if it’s cooked outside in a brick pizza oven.

One day I will put the finishing touches to ours and tell you a bit more about it.

I did get all fired up and was going to cook this pizza in our oven outside despite it only being a few degrees above freezing, however due to the inclement weather over the previous few weeks the oven and wood were all a little too damp to get a really good fire going. You’ll just have to take my word for it that this does make them even better.

When I make my pizzas I bulk prepare both the sauce and the dough, freezing the additional portions for sue at a later date. Both the dough and the sauce take less than an hour to defrost so they do make for a handy freezer meal.

To make the pizza we need a base, so in my little world that means dough and this is mine that makes enough for 8 individual sized pizzas, or use 2 lots to make a 12″ pizza or you can just make a very thin one using just one portion.

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Yield: 8

Pizza Base

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 800 g strong white bread flour
• 200 g semolina, or strong white bread flour
• 15 g dried yeast
• 5 g salt
• 15 g sugar
• 650 ml water

Instructions

1. Mix the yeast and sugar into the water and allow to ferment for a few minutes
2. When the yeast is alive and foaming, mix the flour and salt together in a bowl
3. Create a well in the flour and pour in the yeast and water, you can do this in one go or a bit at a time depending on how confident you are feeling.
4. Mix together using a spoon, knife or your hands, depending on how messy you like getting.
5. When all the water has been absorbed and the mixture holds together get in there with your hands and squish it all together so you have one lump with no bits left at the bottom of the bowl.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured or oiled surface and kneed until smooth, once the dough becomes smooth place it in a well oiled bowl, cover with oiled clingflim and leave to rise.
7. Once the dough has doubled in size, after about 1 hour, divide it into portions, I go for about 8 each of 200g
8. The dough is now ready to roll out to form the pizza base, if your not going to use all of it, now is a good time to individually bag up the portions of dough and freeze ready for next time
9. To cook the pizza pre heat an oven to 240 degrees and bake for about 10 minutes depending on how crispy you like your base and how brown you like your cheese

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

8 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 526Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 249mgCarbohydrates: 106gFiber: 4gSugar: 2gProtein: 18g

Did you make this recipe?

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All wrapped up for the freezer.

To make the actual pizza you’ll need to roll out the dough into a pizza shape or to the shape of you baking tray or you could use a Pizza Stone if you have one, I really want to try making pizza on one of these.

Once you have your pizza base rolled out you need to think about toppings, I normally get all of my toppings prepared while the oven is warming up (240 degrees).

With the base I tend to give it a quick 2-3 minute bake with nothing on then another 2-3 minutes with the sauce and then a final 5-10 minutes with all the toppings, I find this helps avoid a soggy bottom.

Other than base, sauce and cheese our pizzas vary depending on what we have in the cupboard and fridge. Most things work just remember that if it needs cooking it’s best to pre-cook before placing on the pizza.