Traditional Italian Pizza

Preparation

Before starting

1. Place the granite board(s) or pizza stone(s) into your oven and turn it on at max heat - the stones will take a long time to heat through

For the base

1. Mix the flour and salt together and sift onto a clean work surface
2. Make sure the water is lukewarm and stir in the sugar

3. Stir the yeast into the water and leave to stand for a couple of minutes
4. Form a 'well' in the flour and pour the water-sugar-yeast mix into it

5. Use a fork to push approx ¼ of the flour into the liquid, making sure to leave an intact 'wall' around the edge, and then stir it in gently
6. Once the flour has mixed in, push a bit more in and repeat the stirring

7. Repeat 2-3 more times until all the flour and water are mixed together. Don't rush this as the liquid will escape if you aren't careful.

8. Oil your hands and knead the dough ball until it forms a clammy spongy ball which doesn't leave too much mix on your fingers

9. Oil a large bowl and place the dough ball into it. Cover with a cloth or towel for around an hour. The dough should double in size

For the sauce

1. crush the garlic and chop the basil
2. Blanche the tomatoes, for around 45-60 seconds, then leave to cool

3. Peel the tomatoes
4. Keep the skins for topping the pizza later - they add a wonderful flavour
5. Blend the chopped tomatoes in a food processor
6. If using tinned tomatoes, add ½ tsp unrefined sugar (e.g. demerara)

7. Place the tomato mix into a pan on a medium heat
8. Cut the carrot lengthwise, top and tail, and place in the tomato sauce. It will be removed later.
9. Heat gently in a pan for 30-60 mins until thickened
10. Remove the carrot and discard
11. Add the garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper
12. If necessary stir in a tablespoon of tomato purée to help thicken the sauce
13. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before putting onto the pizza

For the pizza

1. Spread out some grated mozzarella onto kitchen roll for around 30-60 mins to allow it to dry out a little

2. Prepare any other toppings you want to put on your pizza
3. Oil your hands and split the dough into 3 equal size balls
4. Oil a rolling pin (don't dust it with flour)
5. Put the dough ball onto a good size piece of baking paper. If there is a little oil on the paper first this will help

6. Roll each dough ball out to the size of a medium pizza. It should be a maximum of 3mm thick

7. Brush the newly rolled base with olive oil to prevent it getting soggy (the rolling pin should have already done most of this for you!)

8. Coat the base thinly with tomato mix and add the bits of tomato skin

9. Add any other toppings you want

10. Sprinkle a good handful of mozzarella over the top
11. Carefully lift the pizza using the baking paper and put into the oven.

12. The pizza should cook in around 3 minutes - as soon as the cheese starts to brown remove the pizza from the oven
13. Add any fresh ingredients (e.g. fresh rocket) and coarse ground black pepper
14. Slide the greaseproof paper onto a plate with the pizza still on it, cut into slices with a pizza cutter and serve

Notes

• You should use the best tomatoes you can find. If you are using tinned tomatoes I recommend getting "DOP" tomatoes at the very minimum.
• You can include any toppings you like. I've found less is more
• I usually just put olives on before cooking and then add a little fresh rocket after cooking.
• If you can heat your granite board(s) or pizza stone(s) on a gas hob immediately before putting the pizza into the oven you can get them up to the optimal 400C which should cook the pizza in under 2 minutes but there are obvious risks associated with doing this!

Ingredients

• For the base
• 500g 00 flour
• Pinch salt
• 7g dry yeast
• 2tsp caster sugar
• 325ml water
• For the tomato sauce
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3-4 fresh basil leaves
• 500g fresh tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 carrot
• For the complete pizzas
• 1 tsp Olive oil
• 375g Grated mozzarella
• 90g olives, sliced
• 50g fresh rocket
• ½ tsp coarse ground black pepper

Equipment

• Oven that can reach at least 220°C
• Pizza stones
• Food processor / blender
• Rolling pin
• Bowl
• Baking parchment or pizza shovel

Nutritional Facts

• Serving size: 458.2g
• (20% / 25%)   Calories: 500kcal
• (56%)Total fat: 31g
• (75%)   Saturated fat: 15g
• (37%)   Unsaturated fat: 12.8g
•     Mono: 11g
•     Poly: 1.8g
• (27%)   Cholesterol: 81mg
•   Trans Fat: 0.9g
• (8%)Total carbohydrates: 25g
•   Starch: 0g
• (37%)   Sugars: 11g
•     Sucrose: 3.3g
•     Glucose: 2.1g
•     Maltose: 0g
•     Lactose: 1.8g
•     Fructose: 2.3g
•     Galactose: 0.9g
• (17%)   Fibre: 4.3g
• (66%)Protein: 33g
• Salts
• (69%)   Sodium: 1.4g
• (19%)   Potassium: 670mg