Pizza Day was always my fav at school... Now that I'm older, delivery pizza isn't quite as delicious as it used to be. So, to add a little bit of excitement and subtract the guilt of a few slices, I make my own! Homemade pizza also lets you to control the amount of sauce & toppings (more or less) on your pie. Pizza night is one of our favorite meals of the week. In our house, the most popular variety is BBQ Chicken pizza.
I usually get refrigerated pizza bases from the supermarket. They definitely leave something to be desired. They are a weird texture and don't have that yummy crust around the edges. I thought I would try to make my own & improve the taste and texture. Not to mention 2 bases cost the same as a bag of flour - enough to make 10 bases!
Anyway, enough rambling. On to the recipe! Pictures to follow...
Perfect Pizza Dough
Ingredients
1 to 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp active dried yeast
4 1/3 cup Tipo 00 Flour (or strong white flour) extra flour for dusting
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp clear honey
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
Preparation Method
1. Pour about a half cup of the water into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast. Stir to dissolve, then leave to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.
2. Sift the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Stir the honey & olive oil into the yeast mixture until well combined.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the yeast mixture, mixing to form a soft and slightly sticky dough. Add enough of the remaining water, little by little, until you have achieved the correct consistency.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and lightly flour your hands. Knead the dough for ten minutes until it is smooth and pliable.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl - it should be big enough to allow the dough to double in size. Put the dough inside and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 1-2 hours.
6. When the dough has doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap and punch the dough down. Remove from the bowl and knead again until smooth & air bubbles are reduced. Divide into 5 round balls and let the dough rest before shaping.
7. To shape the dough, lift a ball of dough on to a lightly floured work surface and lightly flour the top. Flatten the dough with your fingers before picking it up and slapping it onto your work surface. Repeat this a couple of times. Now drape the dough over your clenched fist
and stretch it gently from the outside rim.
8. Place the dough in well-floured pizza tins or baking sheets, top with your choice of toppings and bake in a hot oven until the topping is melted and the edges are crisp
BBQ Chicken Pizza
We always chop the chicken up small and season it with garlic, oregano, Spike, crushed chilis, S&P, and whatever else we are feelin'.
Pre-cook your chicken & coat the base with BBQ sauce.
Add your toppings and you're done.
Results were a success! Yes, I threw the dough in the air like an Italian. It works, OK?
Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. The crust puffs up in the oven & came out really nice and chewy. I suggest topping your pizzas on the cookie sheet they will be baked on. Once you see all the cheese melted and the crust turn slightly golden, they are good to go! Here are some pics of our final result. They don't really do the pizzas justice, but I was hungry, so this is all you get!
The dough recipe takes time - definitely one for the weekend. But the best part is, you end up with 5 bases. So you can easily freeze the dough balls to use later. You can also use it to make breadsticks or garlic knots like Pizza Bakery in Newport.
