Pizza time

I have recently been baking my own Pizzas to some good success and in all honesty I do believe these taste much better than shop bought and all the ingredients I use are very natural and health.

I start by making the base, its always the same ingredients I use…. •200g strong white flour, I use allisons but any strong white flour will do. •7g fast-action dried yeast, if I can get my hands on fresh yeast then I use double this amount and a little sugar to activate it. •Pinch of salt (always Rock salt when I cook, normal table salt has chalk added to make it run easier, you don’t really want that in your body, I have also recently started using Organic Himalayan Pink Salt which I had to buy through Amazon but tescos now have it) •140ml water, warm •3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus extra for brushing Mix all these ingredients together in a mixing bowl Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and work it with your hands for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic and has a feeling similar to your ear lobe . This should be enough dough for two pizzas so divide by two and flatten out into two disks and place on a pizza baking tray. Leave in a warm place for 20 mins as the dough with rise a little. Brush some olive oil over the disks and start to add your topping, the base topping is passata (basic tomato sauce) except when making a Florentine pizza with an egg in the middle in which case I don’t use any tomatoes just a mozzarella base leaving the centre base for the egg.

For my tomato sauce I use cherry tomatoes for more flavour or even better still Sugar drop tomatoes if you can get some. I got some in morrisons last week and they were beautiful. I blend the tomatoes with a little garlic and tiny amount of olive oil and sugar, I work it through a wire mesh to ensure there are no seeds and there is the sauce all ready to spread over your base. Then add the topping of your choice and back in a preheated oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 for anywhere between 10-25 minutes depending how to like yours.