All About That Base

If there is one thing I am particular about, it is pizza. My family can tell you that I am always ranting about the lack of good pizza in Portugal (it is not all bad, but finding good pizza can be a challenge!) I am a huge fan of authentic Italian Pizza and having spent a three week holiday in Italy, I can say that we never ate a bad pizza! That crusty exterior and soft, fluffy interior, the fresh tomato sauce and, of course, basil (my favourite herb) … yum! Anytime we have family pizza at home it is good. However, I wanted to experiment and try to improve the base. This week I used the everyday food recipe for the pizza base. Here is the link to the recipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPDW6xk3uc

Pizza Recipe

Ingredients

I halved this recipe and it would have fed three people comfortably.

• 2 packets active dry yeast

• 1 1/2 cups warm water

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons coarse salt

• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing

• Pizza sauce

• Toppings of your choice

Method

To make the dough measure out the flour, sugar and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl activate the yeast with warm water (you should be able to keep your finger submerged in the water). Be careful with this as if the water is too warm it will kill the yeast. Once the yeast has activated (this will take about 5 minutes) add in the olive oil. Next combine the flour mixture with the yeast mixture until smooth.

Oil the sides of a bowl and transfer the dough to it and drizzle a little more olive oil on top of the dough (to avoid sticking to clingfilm). Cover in clingfilm and leave to rest for 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220 c and place an empty baking tray upside down in the oven (I needed two baking trays) this will provide the bottom of your pizza with more heat and act as a make-shift pizza oven. This will also cook it quicker.

Transfer the now risen dough to a floured surface. Next knead slightly until smooth and it no longer sticks to your fingers. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 cm to 1 cm thick with a rolling pin (you could also stretch it with your hands). Places the pizza bases onto oiled baking trays.

Now for the fun part! I first spread my sauce around the bases of the pizzas. I used store bought pizza sauce as I did not have time to make my own. However I will make some in the future and do a blog post on it. Then I covered each pizza in cheese and added bacon, cured ham and goat’s cheese. Make sure you put an extra layer of grated cheese on top to make sure the toppings do not burn in the oven (like my bacon did).

If you want to look like a foodie then garnish the pizza with fresh basil leaves and serve on a black slate! I hope you enjoyed this recipe.