Pizza recipe

[tobyaw]

Since I got my Kenwood Chef last year, I've been having fun making bread. A favourite weekend treat is home-made pizza; this is my recipe to make two 12" pizzas.

I make no claims for the authenticity or quality of this recipe, but it makes pizza the way that Beth and I like to eat it.

Pizza base

300ml warm water
1tsp dried yeast
1tsp sugar
500g strong white bread flour
1tsp salt
100g white fat

1. Mix 200ml of cold tap water with 100ml of boiling water in the Kenwood bowl. Add one teaspoon of dried yeast, and one teaspoon of sugar, and stir. Cover and leave for 20 mins; it will start foaming.
2. Add 500g of strong white bread flour, one teaspoon of salt, and 100g of white fat. Using the dough hook, mix on minimum until the dry ingredients are combined with the liquid, then knead on Kenwood speed two for 5 mins.
3. Remove the bowl, loosely cover, and leave for an hour or two in a warm place. The dough should double in size.
4. Return to the Kenwood, and knead on speed two for a further 5 mins.
5. Split the dough into two balls. Sprinkle flour on a board, then roll each ball out to be a 12" pizza base, and place on trays for baking.
6. Add toppings to taste, then bake in a hot oven. My oven runs at a claimed 275 degrees C, and the pizzas take around 10 mins.

Pizza sauce

1 tin chopped tomatoes
large knob of butter
dash of olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 onion

1. Add the tomatoes, butter, olive oil, and half a teaspoon of salt to a saucepan.
2. Peel and half the onion; add to the pan. Be careful not to disturb the onion; it should remain in two halves. Simmer the sauce in the open pan on a low heat for an hour.
3. Remove the onion and discard it.
4. If the sauce isn't thick enough, raise the heat and reduce the sauce, stirring to prevent sticking.

Pizza cheese

2x 125g mozzarella balls

1. Remove from bags, and drain away the liquid.
2. Slice, remove any liquid, and place the slices on the pizzas. The cheese will melt and spread across the pizzas as they cook.

Notes

• I tend to use Allinson's Premium White Very Strong Bread Flour, which has given consistently good results, but any white or wholemeal bread flour will do.
• I buy tins of Allinson's Dried Active Yeast. If you use fresh yeast or sachets of instant yeast, you may need to modify the recipe accordingly.
• I usually bake with Trex vegetable fat. I find it gives a better texture to the bread than if I use olive oil, and butter can make the bread taste too rich.
• Seasoning, spices, and herbs can be added to the bread or to the sauce. For example, I sometimes add black pepper, oregano, and tomato puree to the bread mix, and sometimes garlic, herbs, and black pepper to the sauce. Try adding a few fresh basil leaves after removing the pizza from the oven.
• I bake my pizzas on pizza trays that have holes in the base; this helps the bread to crisp, while giving structure that allows me to make a thin-crust pizza.