I can not understand the attraction of buying pizzas either from a takeout or frozen. The truth is that pizza is one of the easiest and most cost effective foods that you can make.
The Dough/
600 grams of strong plain flour (can use ciabatta flour and/or combination) (approx. 1lb 5 oz/ 4 1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp of dried milk powder
2 Tsp salt
2 1/2 Tbsp of sugar
34 grams of butter or olive oil (about 2 1/2 tablespoons)
2 1/2 Tsp of dried yeast
330ml of water
- Place ingredients in the mixing bowl. Preferably in the order listed above.
- Mix in with your food processor using the dough hook. Alternatively a metal bowl works using a metal spoon.
- When dough is well mixed and forming a moist ball of dough,
- Cover and leave to rest if possible. Resting for 15 to 30 minutes is sufficient, but I have been known not to have time and just go straight into using it
I use a very simple “about” pizza sauce.
- About 2/3 of a jar of passata/crushed tomatoes
- A spoon of sugar
- Oregano and/or Italian herbs (amount depends on your preference)
- Dried onion flakes (optional)
- Dried Garlic (optional)
- Roll out dough and place on a greased pizza pan with wholes on the base which helps make it crisp. Alternatively, once pizza is prepared for baking you can place on a preheated pizza stone. (Not always so easy)
- Spread sauce on dough.
- Now here is the big questions. Do you put cheese next or your toppings?
- I usually put a few toppings (ie mushrooms, peppers, artichoke hearts, etc.)
- Spread a combination of mozarella and cheddar.
- Finally a few more toppings such as olives or more mushrooms.
- Bake in a preheated oven set at 200 degrees C. The time depends on your oven, but you can usually tell when the cheese starts to go brown.
Options to consider!
- Serve as is or be creative and add fresh grated parmesan or fresh leaves such as rocket or spinach!
- Pizza dough does freeze. I usually make the above recipe and divide into 3. Freeze just after you have mixed the dough. Defrost, roll, top, and bake!
- A rough estimate of costs is about £2.00 per pizza excluding baking costs and more expensive toppings.