Homemade Pizza Making Kits Food

GOURMET HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• In a large bowl (dough will rise considerably!), combine all the dough ingredients and stir well, until smooth. It will be stiff, but be sure all the flour is incorporated. Cover the bowl and let stand at room temperature approximately 18-24 hours. Doing this the night before is best.
• Using a silicone bowl scraper, scrape the dough onto a well floured surface. It will seem very loose and sticky at this point still. That's normal. Generously dust the top of the dough with some flour, then use the bowl scraper or a bench scraper to roll the dough around a bit in the flour on the work surface, to coat thinly. You will find it should quickly become workable and no longer sticky. Divide the dough into two equal pieces (or four, for mini pizzas). Shape each piece into a ball, then cover with a clean towel and let rest for 1 hour.
• Prepare your oven: Place your pizza stone into the cold oven on a rack in the lower third of the oven. I like to remove any top rack at this point, too, just to not have that obstacle when transferring the pizza into and out of the oven. Preheat oven to the highest setting, typically 500F. Let the oven preheat while your dough rests.
• Prepare your sauce: If you are making your own pizza sauce, prepare that when the dough is resting as well. Using a fine mesh strainer, drain the juice from the canned tomatoes, then gently squeeze the tomatoes to let some of the juice inside the tomatoes drain off as well. Place the tomatoes into a food processor, with the garlic, olive oil, spices and a generous pinch of salt. Pulse a few times, to break it up, but not so much that it is completely smooth. A few small pieces of tomato visible is about right. Set aside.
• Dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour or cornmeal. Take a ball of dough and gently stretch it out a bit. Place it on your prepared parchment and gently, using just your fingertips so you don't deflate the dough too much, press and stretch outward to shape the pizza and make it bigger. If it seems to not be enlarging much, lift it up by the outside edge and let it hang in the air. The weight of the dough will stretch it out. Rotate around the edge and let it stretch in the same way. Return the dough to the parchment and finish stretching and shaping. If you like a thin crust pizza, your dough will need to be quite thin. Leave the outside edges thicker, for the lovely bubbly edge crust.
• Spread the pizza sauce on the dough. Place 2-3 slices of prosciutto onto the pizza. I like to twist it a bit so it doesn't lay flat on the sauce. This helps to get some lovely, crisp prosciutto as it bakes. Scatter some goat cheese on top, then some shredded mozzarella (not too much, just enough to fill in here and there).
• Bake your pizza:
• Trim the parchment paper close to your pizza, so there is little excess that might scorch in the hot oven. Using a pizza peel, transfer your pizza on top of the parchment paper and onto the hot pizza stone. Allow to bake 7-8 minutes. If you like, you can very carefully pull the parchment paper out from under the pizza at this point. Allow the pizza to continue baking until the crust underneath has some good colour, the topping are bubbly and the top edges of the crust are quite dark in spots. Remove pizza to a cutting board and allow to rest a couple of minutes. Top with fresh arugula to serve.

PIZZA

Steps:

• Mix together the yeast and sugar with 250ml warm water and leave to sit for 10 mins. Place half the flour in a table-top mixer with a dough hook, pour in the yeast mixture and beat at medium speed for 10 mins (or mix in a bowl, then knead with oiled hands in the bowl for 5-10 mins).
• Leave somewhere warm for 10 more mins, then add the remaining flour and oil. Beat or knead to a dough for a further 5 mins. Put in a well-oiled bowl, cover with a cloth and place somewhere warm to double in size - about 1½ hrs.
• For the sauce, heat the oil in a pan over a moderate heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 mins, stirring constantly. Add the garlic, 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp ground black pepper and cook for 2 mins more. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for a good 20 mins, stirring occasionally.
• Once your dough has doubled in size, slap it down on a lightly floured surface and knead for 4 mins until soft but not too elastic. Divide into 6 pieces, roll into balls and leave to rest for 10 mins. Heat oven to the highest temperature possible (270C fan in the Good Food test kitchen) and place a flat baking sheet in the oven.
• With a well-floured rolling pin, roll out each ball of dough as thinly as possible. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, oil or dust with flour, then carefully transfer the dough base onto it. Spread over some of the tomato sauce (I like to apply it in the quantity that you would spread Marmite on toast, or the base will be soft and fall to bits), then the cheese and any toppings you desire.
• Cook for between 5-10 mins depending on your oven temp, until the base is crisp and the cheese melted. Scatter with basil.