Ingredients:
For
dough:
250g
high gluten flour / bread flour
50g
semolina flour (for dough’s colour & flavour)
3.5g
dried yeast
1
pinch of sea salt
1
teaspoon of golden caster sugar
1
tablespoon of olive oil
160g
lukewarm water
For
topping as picture (feel
free to put any ingredients you like, I prefer to grab what is available inside
my fridge/kitchen):
2
teaspoons of tomato paste
1
tomato, diced or sliced
6
prawns with shell removed
Handful
of grated mixed mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese
Sprinkle
of herbs as desired (rosemary, parsley etc)
Directions:
1. Set the oven to 240°C or as hot as it will go and let it heat for
half an hour before making the pizza.
2. Sieve the flour and salt
on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle.
3. In a jug, mix the yeast,
sugar and olive oil into the lukewarm water and leave for a few minutes, then
pour into the well.
4. Using a fork, bring the
flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing,
drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together,
work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until
you have a smooth, springy dough.
5. Place the ball of dough
in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a
damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has
doubled in size.
6. Remove the dough to a
flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your
hands (this is called knocking back the dough).
·
You can either use it immediately, or keep
it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required.
·
If using straight away, divide the dough up
into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is
enough to make about 2 medium pizzas or 1 large pizza.
7. Timing-wise, it's a good
idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook
them.
·
Don't roll them out and leave them hanging
around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's
better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge.
·
However, if you want to get them rolled out
so there's one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the
dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly
larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil.
·
You can then stack the pizzas, cover them
with clingfilm, and pop them into the fridge.
8. Tear off two pieces of
parchment paper roughly 12-inches wide. Divide the dough in two with a bench
scraper. Working with one piece of the dough at a time, form it into a large
disk with your hands and lay it on the parchment paper.
9. Work from the middle of the
dough outwards, using the heel of your hand to gently press and stretch the
dough until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick or less. For an extra-thin crust,
roll it with a rolling pin. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for
five minutes and then continue rolling.
10. The dough will stick to the
parchment paper, making it easier for you to roll out, and the pizza is baked
while still on the parchment. As it cooks, the dough will release from the
parchment, and you can slide the paper out midway through cooking.
11. Spoon the tomato paste into
the center of the pizza and use the back of a spoon to spread it out to the
edges.
12. Pile on all of other
toppings or as per your desires.
13. Bake for about 5 minutes and
then rotate the pizza. Bake for another 5 minutes until the crust is
golden-brown and the cheese looks toasty.
14. Remove the pizza from oven
and let it cool on a wire rack.
15. Let the pizza cool for about
five minutes before slicing and serving
