Homemade Pizza

Today’s post is a yummy pizza recipe! Obviously you can put whatever toppings you like on the pizza, I’ve just listed my veggie options as some ideas.I made this with my boyfriend one Saturday night ( hence the distinctly meat filled pizza on the left) just after Christmas when money was tight and we didn’t want to spend our pennies on going out, it turned out to be a really fun night in so give it a go!

Ingredients: Makes 2 about 8 inch Pizzas (like the above photo)

For the base:

• 325g Strong White Flour
• 3.5g Easy Blend Yeast ( most sachets seem to be about 7g so just half that)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1tbsp Olive Oil
• 25ml Warm milk
• 162 ml Warm water

For the sauce:

• 200ml Tomato Passata  ( from a carton or a can)
• 1 -2 tsp Dried Oregano
• 1 clove of Garlic finely chopped
• 1-2 tsp Basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

For two pizza’s I used 1 ball of Mozzarella,some grated cheese of your choice cheddar etc, a small red onion sliced, red pepper, small cherry tomatoes halved, olives. Obviously use whatever you like and however much you can fit on!

Method:

1) First we start with the pizza base. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl, add in the oil and milk. Gradually add in the water, do this slowly as you may not need it all. You don’t want your dough to become too sticky!

2) Knead the dough for abut 5 minutes.

3) Roll the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing ball. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave somewhere warmish for about an hour or until it has double in size.

4) In this hour, you can chop up all of your veggies and slice your mozzarella etc for the top.

5) On to the sauce. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil in a pan and place the garlic and herbs in the oil to heat until warm but don’t burn! I find this just helps to bring out the flavour or so I’ve been advised. Measure your passata and mix in the herbs and garlic. Taste it and add salt and pepper to your own taste.

6) After the hour is up, take the dough out of the bowl and knock out the air by kneading, Split the dough in two, flour a surface and roll it out into the most pizza like shape you can manage.

7) Spread over as much of the sauce as you like and add your toppings.

8) Bake in an oven on 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your pizzas, you may have to turn them round a few times to make sure they cook through evenly and none of the edges burn. When you think it’s ready try and make sure the middle is cooked through properly, you don’t want a soggy bottom but a nice one like the picture below…..

Let me know if any of you try this recipe out!