Gourmet Pizza

I've been meaning to make my own pizza dough but kept putting it off, until last night when my other half & I (and Rafael, of course), went grocery shopping and I spotted ingredients that are great for pizza-making. Mushrooms, baby rocket leaves, camembert cheese, to name a few. So, here  I am, kneading pizza dough away - coincidentally it's tuesday (cheap pizza days)

It's great now, by the way, since we've taken baby box out in the kitchen for Rafael to lie down and play in so I can work around the kitchen and don't have to run like a maniac to the nursery each time he cries/ wants attention.

Kneading, raised dough, final dough

Back to the pizza dough, it's actually very easy to make your own and more economical too... and with the topping, it's so much fun to play around with all sorts of ingredients. I'm a firm believer of  the 'anything-goes' on top of pizza.. be it savoury/ sweet, it would still taste good :)

El Savadore

Pizza base - makes 2 medium (squarish) size

250 g bread flour

7 g dry yeast

1/2 tsp salt

2 T olive oil (EVOO for best flavour)

125 ml lukewarm water (approx)

1. Mix the flour, yeast & salt; make well in the centre. Pour in the oil, then add water gradually, while working the dough, until the dough is pliable and smooth. - make sure it's not too dry.
2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a further 10-15 mins by hand, until it is more elastic and smooth.
3. Knead into a ball, rub a little olive oil, cover with clean & damp tea towel. Set aside in a warm place for approx. 1 hour until it doubles in size.
4. On a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough, knead gently for 2 mins before rolling it out thinly as pizza base. You can prick the dough with fork at this stage if you like.

Now, the fun part is dressing the dough base before baking. This time, I choose these ingredients for a little bit of an Italian flavour. I shall call this.. erm.. "El Savadore"..? ^_~

Now, all we need is to turn on the oven to 200C (fan-forced) and throw the ingredients artistically on top of the dough, then bake 'em for approx 20 mins. Delizioso!

the topping

El Savadore

3 T instant pasta sauce - tomato & herbs

2 Elmar's beech smoked sausages

handful of mushrooms, peel the skin, chop thickly

1/2 small wheel of camembert cheese, cut into wedges

25 g kent pumpkin, peel, chop & blanch in hot water for a few mins

2 handfuls of baby rocket leaves, wash & strain

before baking