14/11/2021
Today I went shopping for a pizza oven.
It works great. ❤️🍕
Here is a simple recipe for the dough base and tomato base:
Dough mix:
1⅓ cups (330 ml) lukewarm water
2 teaspoons (7 g sachet) dried yeast
½ teaspoon caster sugar
3 cups (450 g) bread and pizza flour, plus
extra to dust
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing
2 × 200 g balls fresh mozzarella
polenta or semolina, to dust
Marinara sauce:
¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, sliced
400 g can diced Italian tomatoes
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
Method:
Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a jug. Set aside for 5 minutes or until slightly frothy on top. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form, then use your hands to make a rough dough, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Brush a bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a damp tea towel. Set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the dough doubles in size. Punch the air out of the dough with your fist. Divide into four equal portions and knead each portion briefly, then shape into balls. Place on a tray and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set aside for another 30 minutes to rise.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until the edges of the garlic start to brown, (Don't overbrown the garlic, or it will add a bitter flavour to your sauce.) Use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic slices from the oil, you can use the crispy garlic to make the garlic bread. Add the tomatoes to the pan and increase the heat to medium. Simmer rapidly, stirring often, for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Use a potato masher to crush any large lumps of tomato. Stir
in the lemon juice, sugar and salt to taste. Keep going until the sauce thickens. Set aside to cool slightly.
Sprinkle two baking trays with the polenta or semolina. Roll out a portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to about 27 cm round, leaving the edge slightly thicker than center. Carefully lift this base onto a baking tray.
Use the back of a spoon to spread about ⅓ cup (80 ml) of the pizza sauce over each pizza base, avoiding the edge. Top the bases with a little of any desired ingredients and half the sliced mozzarella (put the remaining mozzarella in the fridge while you
cook the first two pizzas).
Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the base is crisp. Top with the basil leaves to serve. Eat, and only then repeat to make two more pizzas.
Glass of Red is perfect or white wine 😊
