Pancetta. Spicy sausage. Buffalo mozzarella. Fresh basil. Capers. Fresh Tomatoes. Handmade fresh pizza dough. Really, its the yeast I could do.

This simple guide, will hopefully help you create the most perfect homemade pizza 🍕 Its time consuming in parts but the reward is massive. It’s cheap as chips to make 🍟 Don’t settle for wasting money on expensive take aways or frozen supermarket pizza. This will change your opinion forever 😍

1. The Dough.

Knead for 5-10 mins. Get those arms working, it’s been a while since we all saw the inside of a gym.

Follow my easy steps to create the perfect pizza dough. That flexible, you won’t even really need a rolling pin. This is seriously fun and a great way to kill a few hours in the afternoon ❤️

Ingredients.

• 775g of Strong 00 bread flour

• 10g of Dried yeast

• 2 tsp of Salt

• 25ml Olive Oil

• 50ml Warm milk

• 320ml Warm water

This recipe will create 4 large pizza bases.

Method:

Add the flour, dried yeast & salt into a large mixing bowl.

• Stir in the olive oil with the warm milk

• Gradually 100ml at a time, add in the warm water & mix into a soft dough

• Flour up your work surface and remove the dough from the bowl.

• Knead your dough for 5-10 mins until it is no longer sticky and its smooth with an elastic texture
• Place into a lightly oiled bowl (anything will do) cover with a tea bowl and leave to prove for 2 hours. Let it rise!!

TIME TO RISE AND SHINE.

First prove- 2 hours

Now that’s so satisfying to see 😇

Once you’ve finished the first prove, its now time to knock it back. Bang all the air out and start the process all over again. This is time consuming and requires patience, but don’t jump the gun and make sure you do the second prove. It’s all worth it in the end ☺️

Place back on the work surface and knead it for another few minutes. The dough should be feeling extremely flexible and elastic.

Now its time to portion up for those perfect bases 🍕

Grab your scales and weigh out 250g balls of your pizza dough. You should get 4 round balls. This may leave you with a small amount left over. Make an amazing flatbread with it by rolling it out and banging it onto a hot frying pan. Don’t let anything go to waste.

Place the balls onto a tray and allow them one hour for a second prove. They will double in size.

Second prove, into portioned balls- 1 hour

From this point on, if you’re not planning on making pizza on the same day, pop the risen balls into the fridge. They stay perfect for 3-5 days, so you can use them later in the week. Just remember to take them out the fridge and let them get to room temperature before using them again.

Now its time to start rolling your pizza dough. I personally like to avoid using a rolling pin as much has possible. It’s more fun that way.

Start by using your hands to flatten the ball into a disc.

Start to carefully hand stretch the dough. I find using your fists as a great way to hand stretch out the dough, saves accidentally poking your fingers through. Work the rolling pin in at points if you want to speed up the process. The dough should be so easy to work with that it barely requires much effort. Take it really thin for that classic Italian thin crust, or leave more thickness around the edges for that puffy texture.

Hand stretch our roll out your dough

Now for the fun….

Now pizza can be quite hard to achieve in home domestic oven. The heat required, means this can be challenging without the correct tools. I want to offer up two alternative ways to get perfect pizza 🍕 for those who don’t have all the kit.

Method:

Take yourself a good old frying pan and place your pizza base inside. No need for oil or anything like that. Load up with the toppings of your choice. I went for a chilli infused tomato & basil passata, fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella, spicy sausage, pancetta & capers.

Now get your oven ready (240 degrees)

Place the pan on the stove for 5 minutes on a medium heat. This will just allow the base of the pizza to cook through properly & crisp up, then place the pan straight into the hot oven for another 8-10 minutes to finish off the rest.

If you don’t have a pizza tray, you won’t achieve a nice bottom, by just going straight into the oven on a regular baking tray. The frying pan method is a great and simple way to achieve that perfectly cooked bottom with a great crisp that’s not soggy 🚿

If you have a pizza tray/steaming tray then no need for this method. Just place bass on tray, load up and cook at 240 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Pizza with frying pan method

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Much more content to come, this lockdown period as been a great opportunity to finally start producing some content. Keep eyes peeled.