Ingredients
Serves 4-6
Basic Pizza Dough
12 grams fresh yeast
1tsp sugar
1⅓ cups warm water
¼ cup olive oil
3½ cups unbleached OO flour* or strong (high gluten) plain flour
1tsp salt
Provolone & Vine Tomato Pizza
80g aged provolone, grated
80g mozzarella grated
100g buffalo mozzarella
6 vine ripened cherry tomatoes
Handful wild rocket
50ml olive oil
½ lemon
Pinch flaked sea salt and pepper to taste
Bolognaise and Sopresso Salami Pizza
150g bolognaise sauce
12 slices sopresso salami - thinly sliced
1 tbsp oregano leaves
80g mozzarella
1 tbsp Olive oil
½ of a fresh calamari
60g provolone
60g mozzarella
3 green prawns
50g smoked pancetta
Olive oil
¼ bunch flat parsley
1tbsp capers
Method
Dough
Warm the water slightly so it is tepid or just slightly warm to the touch. Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the water and sprinkle with a little flour. Cover the bowl and allow the yeast to activate for half an hour.
Mix the flour into the yeast mix and finally the olive oil to form a soft pliable dough
Allow the dough to prove twice original size and divide into 120g piece, roll into balls and allow to prove a second time before using.
A good pizza is allows stretched by hand using a little flour and semolina. Don’t feel defeated if you don’t get the hang of it straight away. You can you a rolling pin but it does make the dough a little tougher.
A pizza base should be thin and crisp providing a perfect vehicle for good ingredients. Even used sparingly the pizza will still taste absolutely delicious.
Remember also that cheese is always sprinkled onto the base at the start not layered on at the end covering everything else up.
* OO flour is available from selected gourmet delis.
Provolone & Vine Tomato Pizza
Sprinkle the two hard cheeses onto the pizza base, leaving a border around the edge.
Brush the edges with a little olive oil, sprinkle of sea salt. Place the pizza onto a pizza stone in a hot oven for 4 minutes.
Remove and place the tomatoes onto the pizza and cook until the base is golden.
Dress the rocket with a squeeze of lemon, a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and add to the cooked hot pizza
Bolognaise & Sopresso Salami Pizza
A good bolognaise sauce is essential for this recipe. The next time you make a 'spag bol' pop a little sauce in a plastic container and put it in the freezer for your pizza day.
Spread the bolognaise over the pizza base leaving a clean border around the edge.
Sprinkle with the grated mozzarella.
Place the salami slices over lapping each other all over the pizza.
Sprinkle with the oregano, drizzle with a little olive oil and cook until the base is golden.
Calamari & Salsa Verde Pizza
Fresh green prawns and calamari will make an enormous difference to the taste of this pizza - substitute at you peril.
Clean the calamari and remove the shells and entrails from the prawns.
Cut the prawns lengthways into half and half again. Slice the calamari thinly and drizzle the both the fish with a little oil and salt and pepper.
For the salsa verde, chop the parsley, capers and garlic; add the salt, pepper and a good dash of olive oil. Stir and reserve aside.
Sprinkle the pizza base with the provolone and mozzarella. Brush the edge of the pizza with olive oil and place the calamari and prawn randomly over the top.
Cook the pizza in a hot oven preferably on a pizza stone until the base is golden.
Brush or drizzle the salsa verde over the seafood and tear a few pieces of dill over the top of the pizza.