Once you’ve mastered this basic pizza dough recipe, store-bought pizza will never taste the same again. Spread homemade basic tomato sauce or pesto on the base of the pizza. For the toppings, use the ingredients ‘of your imagination’. If you don’t have time to make the dough, use a pita pocket or flatbread as your pizza base.
Equipment
- measuring scales
- measuring cup (1 cup)
- measuring spoons (tbsp, tsp)
- chopping board
- cook’s knife
- fork
- mixing spoon
- pastry brush
- rolling pin
- 2 bowls (1 large, 1 small)
- 2 baking trays
- clean tea towel or cling wrap
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp instant dry yeast
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus
- tsp extra for greasing bowl
- 400 g plain flour, plus extra
for dusting - 1 tsp salt
Assembling the pizza
- Choose something for the base – basic tomato sauce, pesto or
a drizzle of olive oil - A selection of seasonal vegetables and herbs
(see below for suggestions) - A sprinkle (up to 1 cup) of reduced fat cheese — try mozzarella, feta
or ricotta
What to do
To make the dough
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- Place the water and yeast in the small bowl. Mix well with the fork and leave for 5 minutes.
- Mix the flour and salt in the large bowl and create a well in the centre.
- Pour the yeast mixture and olive oil into the well in the flour and, using a mixing spoon, combine to form a rough dough in the bowl.
- Tip the dough onto a clean, dry, lightly floured workbench and knead for around 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and springy.
- Make sure the large bowl is clean and dry, then use the pastry brush to lightly coat the inside of the bowl with a little of the extra olive oil.
- Place the dough into the oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel or cling wrap. Put in a warm, draught-free place and leave to rest until the dough has doubled in size (near the warming oven can be a good place).
- Prepare your pizza toppings while you wait for the dough to rise.
- When the dough has doubled in size, tip onto the workbench and knead again briefly. It is now ready to roll out into pizza bases.
To assemble and bake the pizza
- Divide the pizza dough in half.
- Scatter a little flour on the workbench and roll each piece of dough into a thin pizza base about 25-30cm in diameter.
- Sprinkle the baking trays with a little flour and carefully place each pizza base on a tray.
- Spread the pizza bases with your base sauce of choice and arrange toppings evenly (try not to overload the pizza with
toppings, as this can make it harder for the base to cook properly!) - Bake for 15 minutes until the base is golden and cooked through.
- Slice up and serve!
SEASONAL PIZZA TOPPING SUGGESTIONS
Summer: Basil, Eggplant, Grilled Capsicum, Tomato.
Autumn: Mushrooms, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato.
Winter: Kale, Lemon, Rocket, Silverbeet.
Spring: Broccoli, Fennel, Potato, Spinach.