Pizza

Everyone loves pizza; this is a global undisputable fact. Toppings can be tailored to your own personal liking but using your own favourite cured meat will always be a winner. Placing your dough in the fridge will allow for slow fermentation which will lead to dough that’s easier to roll out and has a tastier crust. A word on crust - don’t be tight with topping, put the sauce to the edges, there is nothing worse than a 3 inch deep circumference of just bread. But there is a fine line between being generous with topping and overloading a pizza. Too much topping will lead to soggy pizza, raw dough and no crisp base.

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  What you need:
  

  • ½ batch of The hangry Cook bread dough (click "bread dough" to go to the recipe) 
  • 2 tins of chopped tomatoes 
  • Fresh rosemary sprigs
  • Fresh thyme sprigs
  • 2 mozzarella balls
  • Mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 80g charcuterie meat, sliced – the best quality you can afford. I used a chilli and black pepper salami made locally in Leeds.

  • Several baking trays or a pizza stone
  • Semolina

  
  

  How to make it:
  

  1. Firstly mix your bread dough and leave to prove for an hour. Alternatively you can make the dough up to 2 days in advance and leave it in the fridge before using it – this will make the dough easier to roll out and more importantly even tastier.
  2. Put the chopped tomatoes into a saucepan with the rosemary and thyme. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce thickens. If the tomatoes are a little bitter tasting add a splash balsamic vinegar.  Leave to cool.
  3. Turn the oven on to 220 ˚C.
  4. Taking 100g of dough, flour your work surface and the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough, turning it every quarter to ensure you end up with a circle. Of course adapt this method to suit the shape of your baking tray if necessary. Once the dough is thin (about 12-14inches in diameter) sprinkle your baking tray or pizza stone with semolina, to stop the pizza sticking, and place your dough onto it.
  5. Spread a very thin layer of the tomato sauce onto the dough – remember it is a very thin base and can’t hold too much topping so less is more. Then scatter some slices of mozzarella, mushrooms and the cured meat on top of the sauce. Again don’t overload the pizza with toppings as more toppings equal more water and ultimately a soggy pizza base - you want a cooked, crisp base.
  6.  Bake for 8 minutes in the hot oven, turning half way through if necessary.
  7. Slide onto a large board, cut into slices and stuff your face.