Pizza's have been knocking around for a long time now, the original interpretation allegedly dates back to 1889 when, during a visit to Naples, Queen Margherita was served one by a team of chefs who had been tasked with creating something original to honour her stopover. The flat, disc-shaped delight carrying the colours of the Italian flag was born and the name of the original classic lives on to this day.
As with most Italian cooking the success of the pizza is largely down to its inherent simplicity, it takes next to no time to make and only requires a handful of ingredients that are accessible pretty much everywhere.
Makes 6 pizza bases:
800g strong white bread flour
200g semolina flour
15g yeast
2 very generous pinches of salt
650ml lukewarm water
Stir the yeast in with the water, leave to rest for a couple of minutes then mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Work the mixtures with floured hands to prevent it from sticking until you have a nice ball of dough.
Remove from the bowl, place on a floured surface and begin to knead the dough for roughly 10mins in the same way as if making bread (see here). This will help ensure that your dough has a lovely elastic texture to it.
Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 15-30 mins for it to rise.
With your dough now ready you can do what you want with it; divide into six, freeze some, leave some in the fridge for the next day or just use them all. Whatever you choose to do you will need to make a basic tomato sauce:
1 bottle plain tomato passata
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 bunch of basil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar (balsamic works well too)
1 small pinch of sugar
Pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a pan and throw in the whole clove of garlic (this will flavour the oil without overpowering the sauce). Finely chop the basil stalks and add to the pan. Pour in the passata, add the vinegar, season to taste and add the sugar, cook this for 10-20 mins max. Sauce done.
Now roll out your dough and ladle a little sauce from the middle outwards. You really don't need a lot just enough to form a thin layer. Oh and leave enough space to allow a crust to form.
Tear some buffalo mozzarella (don't use cheap shit) over your pizza, garnish with a few basil leaves, a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a twist of black pepper and unless you have a wood fired oven (I'm coming round if you do) slide into a preheated oven at 250 degrees for 7-10 mins, ideally on a pizza stone. It should come out looking pretty damn fine, if it doesn't just call this bloke! LOL!
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