What's easier than unwrapping a frozen pizza and sticking it into the microwave? Making your own from scratch! It's also healthier, as you know exactly what's in it. It's economical, as you can use up all the odds and ends from the fridge that are slightly past their best: that dry salami end, or the shrivelled, but still edible pepper you can't chop up for salad. Best of all, it's exactly to your taste: no nasty anchovy* or onions, and all the extra cheese you want (and have in the house).
Mmm! Doesn't it look nice?
Timewise, it doesn't take much longer than fighting all that cardboard and plastic plus the short baking time, but you should be aware that a pizza is what you want to eat at least half an hour before you start layering it. That is because the dough needs to rest at least 20 minutes before baking. The good thing is that the dough can rest up to 4-5 hours, so you can easily make it in advance. I often mix the dough as I'm clearing up from a Saturday pancake and bacon breakfast, and leave it in its bowl until lunchtime. I either cover the bowl with a tea towel, or leave it in the unused oven or microwave, but that's really to protect it from dust and floating cat hair.
So, the dough. For a thin based 12" pizza, you will need:
200g (1.5 overfilled cups) plain flour
0.5 packet dry yeast
0.5 teaspoon salt
0.5 - 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
4 Tablespoons olive oil
8 Tablespoons lukewarm water
Just add these into your bowl in the order listed, and start mixing with the spoon, then knead with your fingers for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth. You might find you need a little more water if the dough feels hard - it should be elastic and springy instead.
Here is the dough after standing for a few hours, next to the bubbling pizza sauce:
Pizza sauce:
0.5 tin chopped tomatoes (400 ml-sized tin)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
0.5 teaspoon dried basil, oregano or Herbes de Provence
pinch of salt
squeeze of low-sugar ketchup to taste
Turn your oven up to high (250C, 230 fan, 450F). On the stove, soften the garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil, add the herbs and the tinned tomatoes (you could use fresh, but the sauce would take half an hour to make) and boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat, add salt, the rest of the oil and a squeeze of ketchup. I use low-sugar ketchup to give an acidic zing to the sauce, but you don't need to use it. If, on the contrary, you like your sauce sweeter, you can add a tablespoon of tomato concentrate instead.
Stretch and tap your dough flat onto the pizza stone or a baking sheet - if the dough is hard, you may need to use a rolling pin, but normally you can just use your fingers. Spread the sauce on top, and add the desired toppings. Here is what I used this time:
Actually, I omitted the Grana Padano cheese as I realised it would clash with the French saucisson; it would go nicely with ham, though, if I had any. I used up a whole pepper and the 3 mushrooms, only a few olives, 2 thin slices of bacon, and all the French sausage as we were eating it very slowly and I was getting bored of it raw.
This picture shows what the above quantity of sauce looks like on the 12"/30cm pizza, and the ketchup I use.
And this is what the pizza looked like before putting it in the hot oven:
As the dough is so thin, the baking takes only 10-15 minutes. I like to put the pizza stone onto a preheated baking sheet on the top shelf of the oven, as this ensures a crispy base. That is a fan oven, though, and yours might work differently, so just make sure you're baking the base whilst not burning the top!
The photo at the top shows the pizza straight out of the oven. You need to leave it to cool down at least 5 minutes, otherwise the base will be soft and soggy (not to mention you'll burn your mouth!). The smell of it is quite tantalising, however, so you need to spend the time doing something like setting the table or preparing a fresh green salad - until you cannot wait any longer and simply must eat that pizza!
* Disclaimer: I love anchovies, actually!
