Pizza!!

Having tried and ignominiously failed to produce adequate gnocchi (which you will see at some point in August unless the gods smile at me and ITV sinks into deep blue sea in the meantime…), i’ve returned to my first true italian love affair… PIzza!! Added to which, the footy’s on and i wanted something quick and snacky for tonight…

The dough recipe is adapted from Richard Bertinet's olive dough recipe.

Ingredients (for two c. 12” pizzas)
420g strong bread flour
100g fine semolina
10g salt
15g dried yeast
320g hand hot water
50g olive oil

combine the dry ingredients and mix, then add the oil, then the water.  Stir, then use a spatula or your hands to combine fully, then turn out on to an unfloured work surface.  Work the dough until it’s holding together and coming up from the surface pretty much cleanly – don’t flour the surface until this point, then be sparing – the more flour you add, the heavier the dough.

Once it’s smooth, lightly flour the surface and knead until silky and not sticky, then plaice in a floured bowl to rest – cover with a cloth and put it in a warmish place.

Once rested, divide the dough into two large balls on a floured surface, then roll or tease the dough balls to the desired diameter and thickness (i like mine as thin as you can get them without breaking) and place one of the pizza breads a pre-heated pizza stone or baking tray, then add the toppings.  Cook in a preheated oven (gas mark 6) for about 20 mins - try not to make the toppings to wet, or the centre of the pizza will be quite sloppy.

For toppings today, I chose a tomato (300g pureed), shallot (1), and basil sauce (sprinkling, adding 1 chopped clove of garlic and a splash of balsamic), then artcihoke and pancetta on one, and crayfish on the other, both finished with mozarella, parmesan and cheddar… pictured :-)

I need to buy another pizza stone however! I part-baked 'em so they wouldn't need to be on a stone,  then added the toppings a couple of hours later - tasted good, but the middle went a bit soggy, and i think it would've worked better if i could've put them both on their own stone and cooked them from scratch straoght to service.... ah well, live and learn... - my motto for the week i think!!