Pizza dough and tomato sauce

[cuber]

These recipes are not my own but i use them heaps. They are so simple but the dough and tomato sauce topping are amazing. Better than anything you buy from the supermarket and i'm told even better than your local pizza delivery store. The sauce starts off quite runny and thin when it's first put together and it takes around 1.5 hours to reduce to a consistency suitable for spreading on the pizza base but it's so yummy!

Pizza dough -

1Kg white flour bread or Tipo ‘00’ flour, or, 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour plus 200g finely ground semolina flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 x 7g dried yeast sachets

1 tablespoon golden castor sugar

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

650ml lukewarm water

 

Makes 6 – 8 medium sized thin pizza bases

40 minutes (plus proving time)

 

Method

This is a fantastic reliable everyday pizza dough, which can also be used to make bread. It's best made with Italian Tipo '00' flour, which is finer ground than normal flour, and it will give your dough an incredible super-smooth texture. If using white bread flour instead, make sure it's a strong one that's high in gluten, as this will transform into a lovely elastic dough, which is what you want. Mix in some semolina flour for a bit of colour and flavour if you like.

Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in cling film, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with cling film, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with cling film, and pop them into the fridge.

 

Pizza sauce -

Olive Oil                                                                                             

4 cloves garlic, peeled & finely sliced                                               

1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked & torn

3 x 400g good quality tinned plum tomatoes

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Sugar / sweetener

 

Makes 500ml

60 minutes plus reduction time

 

Method

An excellent, basic tomato sauce for using on pizza and also great with pasta or to serve alongside meat or fish – quick, fresh, fragrant and sweet.

Place a large non-stick frying pan on the heat and pour in 4 generous lugs – 1 lug equal to 1 tablespoons - of olive oil. Add the garlic, shake the pan around a bit and, once the garlic begins to colour lightly, add the basil and the tomatoes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes as much as you can.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. As soon as it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve into a bowl, using your wooden spoon to push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and garlic that will be left in the sieve, but make sure you scrape any of the tomatoey goodness off the back of the sieve into the bowl.

Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes to concentrate the flavours. It may need up to ½ teaspoon (use measuring spoon) of sugar to sweeten up. It will be ready when it's the perfect consistency for spreading on your pizza.

Store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it'll keep for a week or so.

[Snoopy]

@cuber

Several years back I actually won a Fleischmann's yeast contest - it was only bragging rights, an apron, a ribbon and certificate, $50 and my recipe posted in the paper - but I KNOW dough recipes, and this recipe looks REALLY good.

Thankfully my kitchen scale does metric for the flour!

[cuber]

1 minute ago, Snoopy said:

@cuber

Several years back I actually won a Fleischmann's yeast contest - it was only bragging rights, an apron, a ribbon and certificate, $50 and my recipe posted in the paper - but I KNOW dough recipes, and this recipe looks REALLY good.

Thankfully my kitchen scale does metric for the flour!

I also have a killer naan bread recipe which is awesome with many Indian dishes. I'll post it soon.