There have been loads of threads about Dominos/The Hut and always lots of people (myself included) who say making your own is so much nicer - so I've bitten the bullet and taken snaps whilst I cooked our weekly pizza this evening to show how I do them.
There's no correct way to make pizza, everyone has their own twists, but this is the method I've evolved over the last 4 years or so. If other people make their own and have tips, please comment, I'm always up for experimenting! In this recipee I've made my own tomato sauce, but it takes a while (and needs constant watching/stirring so that it doesn't burn) so you can just replace that with a 50/50 mixture of tom. puree and pasatta/creamed tomato if you'd prefer.
Please excuse the kitchen, after fitting it when we moved in I lost the will to live and never got round to tiling, that's a job for this summer!
So, to start with, ingredients (to make 3 adult or 2 adult and 2 child pizzas):
Dough:
Topping (pepperoni pizza):
(Yes, we shop as Sainsbury's, how did you guess?
)
First of all you want to get the dough started, so measure out the flour into a large mixing bowl along with the salt (and optionally some cracked black pepper). Mix these together until the salt is well dispersed throughout the mixture. Next, put the sugar into the tepid water and mix until dissolved; once you can see no more sugar pour the yeast in, stirring until you have no clumps. You'll want to leave this until the yeast starts giving off carbon dioxide and you get a nice "head" like in the following picture:
Now add the oil to the year/water/sugar mixture and place immediately (otherwise the oil will retard the yeast) into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. When it comes to actually kneading the dough, I normally use a Dualit mixer with dough hooks, but by hand or with a bread maker are also fine (by hand just takes longer). You're wanting to knead it until the strands of gluten form up as this helps provide strength for the dough when it's cooking/cooked. After around 5 mins (by machine) or 10-20 (by hand) the dough will come together with a smooth sheen on the outside, it should be fairly springy but not too sticky - if too firm or too sticky just add water or more flour respectively. Here's mine after mixing:
You now want to turn it out/spoon it out onto a floured surface and divide into the number of pizzas you're making. If you have some leftover (i.e. only making 2 pizzas) now is the time to wrap the excess in clingfilm (divided up) and place in the freezer where it will keep really well - to use again just let it defrost and go through the rising cycle. Form into dough balls and place on a lightly greased surface with some clingfilm over the top.
OK, dough done, let's make the topping. Pour the chopped tomatoes and around 1/4 to 1/3 of the tube of tom. puree into a large saucepan with some oil (the larger the better, more contact with heat means this part goes quicker). Simmer over a medium to high heat until the mixture becomes very thick (all the moisture has gone):
Before:
After:
Pour in some water (I put in whatever can fit in a full whisky tumbler) and place back on the heat, reducing again until almost dry. When it gets down to almost no moisture the small amount of sugars in the tomatoes start caremalising, adding to the flavour - however, it needs to be constantly watched whilst reducing so as not to burn! The 2nd reduction is optional, but does add to the flavour. After the final reduction add around half the water you did before and then place some chopped basil in and then put onto a very low heat for 3-4 minutes; once cooked place in a heat-proof container ready for use once the dough has risen.
After about 40-50 minutes the dough will have risen to almost twice its size, so turn out onto a floured surface, place some flour on the top and push out into a circular shape - you can use a rolling pin if you want but I normally find by hand is fine. You can also show off and do the whole tossing in the air bit, but it takes a bit of practice and can go horribly wrong! The dough stretches easily to about 8-10 inches:
You now want to pick it up and place onto a greased dish, which will stretch it slightly so just push back into a circular shape. The next step is optional, but I've found it makes a nice crispy base without needing a pizza stone (which are too fiddly IMHO): I place the dough in the oven @190-200 deg C for around 4-5 minutes just to part bake. Once removed leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then get on with putting the toppings on, starting (of course) with the tomato sauce you made earlier - it's quite flavourful so you don't want too much, just an even covering over the base:
Next the cheese, starting with the dry grated mozarella and then the fresh stuff (which browns much nicer). With the fresh stuff, I normally grate (which is a bit tricky as it's so spongey) but have it however you prefer, sliced, torn, chopped, whatever. After that, any toppings you want (I have just pepperoni, my wife's in the foreground has sundried tomato):
Place in the middle of a pre-heated oven @190-200 deg C for around 5-10 minutes (if your oven is anything like ours they may need turning 180degrees halfway through). They're done when the base starts browning along with the cheese. Bravo, you now have 2 freshly made, very tasty pizzas without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
There's no correct way to make pizza, everyone has their own twists, but this is the method I've evolved over the last 4 years or so. If other people make their own and have tips, please comment, I'm always up for experimenting! In this recipee I've made my own tomato sauce, but it takes a while (and needs constant watching/stirring so that it doesn't burn) so you can just replace that with a 50/50 mixture of tom. puree and pasatta/creamed tomato if you'd prefer.
Please excuse the kitchen, after fitting it when we moved in I lost the will to live and never got round to tiling, that's a job for this summer!
So, to start with, ingredients (to make 3 adult or 2 adult and 2 child pizzas):
Dough:
- ~280-300g strong white bread flour
- 200ml tepid water (just above body temp)
- 2 sachets of dried yeast (or 1 if you want a thinner base than I've done here)
- 2 tbsp oil (I normally use vegetable, but olive also works)
- 2 level tsp salt (or less if you are trying to keep your intake down, you do need some though otherwise the base tastes watery)
- 3 heaped tsp sugar (I use brown sugar, white is also ok as is honey, although with honey the dough won't rise as much)
Topping (pepperoni pizza):
- Chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
- Tomato puree
- Fresh basil (dried is also fine)
- 1 mozarella ball (I've found the Sainsury's Basics the best tasting of the supermarket stuff)
- Some grated mozarella (too much fresh can make the pizza a bit soggy)
- Pepperoni (Sainsbury's has the best IMHO, although a good deli will probably beat it easily)
(Yes, we shop as Sainsbury's, how did you guess?
)First of all you want to get the dough started, so measure out the flour into a large mixing bowl along with the salt (and optionally some cracked black pepper). Mix these together until the salt is well dispersed throughout the mixture. Next, put the sugar into the tepid water and mix until dissolved; once you can see no more sugar pour the yeast in, stirring until you have no clumps. You'll want to leave this until the yeast starts giving off carbon dioxide and you get a nice "head" like in the following picture:
Now add the oil to the year/water/sugar mixture and place immediately (otherwise the oil will retard the yeast) into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. When it comes to actually kneading the dough, I normally use a Dualit mixer with dough hooks, but by hand or with a bread maker are also fine (by hand just takes longer). You're wanting to knead it until the strands of gluten form up as this helps provide strength for the dough when it's cooking/cooked. After around 5 mins (by machine) or 10-20 (by hand) the dough will come together with a smooth sheen on the outside, it should be fairly springy but not too sticky - if too firm or too sticky just add water or more flour respectively. Here's mine after mixing:
You now want to turn it out/spoon it out onto a floured surface and divide into the number of pizzas you're making. If you have some leftover (i.e. only making 2 pizzas) now is the time to wrap the excess in clingfilm (divided up) and place in the freezer where it will keep really well - to use again just let it defrost and go through the rising cycle. Form into dough balls and place on a lightly greased surface with some clingfilm over the top.
OK, dough done, let's make the topping. Pour the chopped tomatoes and around 1/4 to 1/3 of the tube of tom. puree into a large saucepan with some oil (the larger the better, more contact with heat means this part goes quicker). Simmer over a medium to high heat until the mixture becomes very thick (all the moisture has gone):
Before:
After:
Pour in some water (I put in whatever can fit in a full whisky tumbler) and place back on the heat, reducing again until almost dry. When it gets down to almost no moisture the small amount of sugars in the tomatoes start caremalising, adding to the flavour - however, it needs to be constantly watched whilst reducing so as not to burn! The 2nd reduction is optional, but does add to the flavour. After the final reduction add around half the water you did before and then place some chopped basil in and then put onto a very low heat for 3-4 minutes; once cooked place in a heat-proof container ready for use once the dough has risen.
After about 40-50 minutes the dough will have risen to almost twice its size, so turn out onto a floured surface, place some flour on the top and push out into a circular shape - you can use a rolling pin if you want but I normally find by hand is fine. You can also show off and do the whole tossing in the air bit, but it takes a bit of practice and can go horribly wrong! The dough stretches easily to about 8-10 inches:
You now want to pick it up and place onto a greased dish, which will stretch it slightly so just push back into a circular shape. The next step is optional, but I've found it makes a nice crispy base without needing a pizza stone (which are too fiddly IMHO): I place the dough in the oven @190-200 deg C for around 4-5 minutes just to part bake. Once removed leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then get on with putting the toppings on, starting (of course) with the tomato sauce you made earlier - it's quite flavourful so you don't want too much, just an even covering over the base:
Next the cheese, starting with the dry grated mozarella and then the fresh stuff (which browns much nicer). With the fresh stuff, I normally grate (which is a bit tricky as it's so spongey) but have it however you prefer, sliced, torn, chopped, whatever. After that, any toppings you want (I have just pepperoni, my wife's in the foreground has sundried tomato):
Place in the middle of a pre-heated oven @190-200 deg C for around 5-10 minutes (if your oven is anything like ours they may need turning 180degrees halfway through). They're done when the base starts browning along with the cheese. Bravo, you now have 2 freshly made, very tasty pizzas without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
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