Making pizza the way they cook it in an Italian restaurant is virtually impossible without a pizza oven. But, you can succeed if you whack your oven up to the max and improvise with an upside-down baking tray!
Ingredients
Dough
1kg strong bread flour
14g instant active dry yeast (2 x regular sachets)
1 tsp salt
4 tbs olive oil
1 tbs sugar
3-4 tbs breadcrumbs/semolina
Toppings
Passata/pizza sauce
Parmesan
Mozzarella
(Your favourite things)
- Add the flour to a large mixing bowl and stir through the yeast. Make a well in the middle and add the sugar, salt, oil and 620ml lukewarm water. Mix the liquid into the flour to form a dough.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Or knead it in a stand mixer.
- Scatter the breadcrumbs or semolina on a work surface. Divide the dough into equal balls and place on top. Cover with greaseproof paper and a damp tea towel. Leave the dough to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to the highest setting. Put a large upside-down baking tray on the highest shelf. While it’s heating up, prepare your first pizza!
- Take a ball of dough and place on a sheet of baking paper – this will prevent that awkward scramble to get the pizza from the work surface to the oven without destroying it!
- Press your fist into the dough, flip it over and press your fist into it again. Flip it over again so the breadcrumbed side is on the bottom. Use your fingers to push the dough out from the centre to stretch the dough into a thin round, leaving the outer edge a bit higher to create a crust.
- Now build your pizza with pizza sauce, parmesan and mozzarella. Add any other toppings you want. Drizzle with olive oil.
- Carefully place your pizza on the hot baking tray and bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is turning golden.
Baking Cupboard Journal 