Home made pizzas

Home made pizzas are just the best, so when lummox number three announced that he was making pizza for lunch - the idea was met with great enthusiasm all round.  He made the dough in the bread maker - but this recipe works just as well made by hand.

Home made pizzas are excellent to make with kids and I have often made them when the boys have had friends round.  I roll the dough in individual portions onto baking paper and have all the toppings in little bowls on the dining table.  The kids can choose their own combinations.  Write each child's name on the paper with a marker - so that there are no mix ups when they come out of the oven.

Pizza Dough

This recipe makes enough dough for 5 dinner plate sized pizzas.  Dough can be rolled thinner for more pizzas or bigger pizzas.  Halving the recipe makes 2 large pizzas.

Preheat the oven to 250 C while the dough is rising.  Place pizza stones onto the racks if you have them.

Ingredients

5 cups high grade flour (Strong flour or bread flour in other parts of the world)
2 cups warm water
3 table spoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
10 teaspoons active dried yeast

Notes on yeast
I use Edmonds Surebake yeast which recommends 1 teaspoon per cup of flour.  This pizza dough has no sugar and uses double the yeast used in bread making.  Check the yeast products readily available to you and work out the equivalent amount.  The link below takes you to a website that explains different yeast types.
Information regarding different yeast types and how to use them

Bread Maker method

Place all ingredients in the bread maker.  Choose the pizza dough setting and start.  If your bread maker only has a dough setting remove the dough after the first proving (rising).

Hand method

place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix to form a ball (hands are the best tool for this).  You can activate the yeast by placing it in a small bowl with spoonful of the four and 1/4 cup of the warm water - it will foam up and can then be added to the bowl.  Turn out onto a floured board or a clean bench top and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes).  Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel or oiled plastic wrap and place in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (approx. 30 minutes).

Forming the dough

Turn the dough out of the bread maker or bowl and form into an even ball, cut or rip the dough and form 5 balls all around the same size.  (Make more or less balls depending on the size and thickness of pizza you want - I've used it to make 2 really big ones for sharing or 32 snack size ones - its up to you.

Roll each ball of dough onto a piece of baking paper to the size and thickness you desire (the baking paper makes it easy to transfer the dough into the oven and onto the hot pizza stones - you can make yours directly onto a baking tray or on a floured board if you have another method of getting them in the oven).

Building your pizzas

Pizza toppings

Pizza sauce

• Spread a dessert spoon of sauce over each base.  You can use a ready made pizza sauce or you can make an easy pizza sauce by blending tomato paste, garlic, red onion, fresh basil and salt & pepper until it is smooth.
• A teaspoon of fresh basil pesto can be spread on top of this to add a basil burst and some parmesan sharpness - yum!
• You could experiment with other sauces to see what you like - try sweet chilli or BBQ.

Cheese

For 5 dinner plate sized pizzas you will need approx. 250grams of mozzarella.  I like to buy a block, slice it and rip the cheese onto the pizza leaving gaps so that the sauce can be seen between.  Mozzarella is readily available in packs of grated cheese which is convenient and easy to use.  Spread the cheese evenly over the bases.

Possible topping choices

Chop all the toppings while the dough is proving so that you will be ready to assemble the pizzas as soon as the dough is formed.  The range of toppings and combinations you use will depend on who will be eating the pizza with you.  I took lummox number 3 to the supermarket to choose what he wanted - he chose:

• pepperoni
• salami
• bacon
• ham
• black olives
• jalapenos
• pineapple

And he used all of those on his pizza!  Lummox number 2 chose ham, salami and pineapple and Lummox number one opted for olives, mushroom, salami and bacon.

You can be as simple and classic as tomato and basil or pepperoni, or try different combinations e.g. chicken, avocado and sweet chili or moroccan spiced lamb and mint topped with tatziki once it comes out of the oven.

Transfer your pizza into the oven - I use a flat cookie sheet, slide it under the baking paper and then slide the pizza onto the hot stone in the oven.

Bake in the hot oven for about 10 minutes or until the toppings are cooked and the base is golden.  Use the cookie sheet to slide the pizzas back out of the oven and slide onto a board.

Use a large knife or a pizza wheel to cut the pizza - slide onto a plate and enjoy!