Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza! Always a crowd pleaser!

This is my signature pizza recipe! I have used other recipes in the past, and sometimes the dough would rise nicely and sometimes it would not. This is my no fail recipe – I hope it works perfectly for you too! You really can’t beat a homemade pizza!

This recipe makes 5, 12″ pizzas.

Prep Time 40 minutes of effort + 60 – 90 minutes rising time

Cook Time 8 minutes per pizza

Ingredients:

7 cups / 1 Kg Strong Flour / Bread Flour – very important you use strong flour, not plain.

1 tsp Fine Sea Salt

2, 7g Dried Yeast Sachets (total of 14g)

1 tbs Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar

4 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil & a little more for sprinkling on top

3 cups / 650 ml Lukewarm Water (slightly warmer than body temperature) – very important you use lukewarm water. Not too hot and not too cold, so that the yeast will rise.

Method:

1. Pour the lukewarm water into a jug, add the sugar, olive oil and yeast. Give it a tiny stir (be careful not over stir) & set aside for about 10 minutes until the yeast gets frothy. Meanwhile, get your other ingredients ready. The yeast should look something like this when it’s ready:

2. Sieve the flour & salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle. Pour your water/yeast mixture into the well. Use a fork to bring the flour into the water gradually. Swirl the flour into the liquid and keep mixing, drawing more flour in with each stir.

3. When it gets hard to stir, combine the rest with flour-dusted hands. Take the dough out onto the counter and knead for 10 minutes. It’s important to knead the dough for ten minutes, don’t skimp on kneading time. It’s a good arm work out too! 😉 You will feel the dough pop as you work it. It will be smooth & springy when it’s ready.

4. When you are done kneading, smooth the dough into a ball, and pinch the dough in at the bottom. Place the dough into a clean flour-dusted bowl & dust some flour over the dough. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Place the bowl somewhere warm for an hour to an hour and a half, until the dough doubles in size.

5. Make your Marinara Sauce while you wait for the dough to rise! My recipe only takes a few minutes of prep and a short cook time. It’s well worth the effort to use a homemade sauce on your homemade pizza.

Assemble the Pizza

1. Heat a conventional oven to 475f / 240c. Place a large baking sheet upside down in the oven. Then place your pizza tray on top of the baking sheet – I use a round pizza tray with holes in it. If you have a pizza stone, that’s even better. If you don’t have either, you can use a regular baking sheet.

2. Place your risen dough on a floured counter. Push and knead the dough just a little bit to get some air out.

3. If you are making 12″ pizzas, you can divide the dough into 5 balls, or else pull off as much dough as you need. Flour the section of dough and roll it flat with a rolling pin.

4. Take your pizza tray out of the oven and place the dough on it. Add your marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese & any toppings you enjoy. I like to sprinkle a little extra virgin olive oil on top.

5. Bake for approximately 8 minutes. Every oven is different so keep a close eye on the first pizza & time out how long it takes to bake in your oven.

Topping Tip: If you want to try something different, make a breakfast pizza. It takes a bit more time and effort because you need to cook up your toppings first. You can add sausage, baccon/rasher, pudding, mushrooms, onions – it’s delicious!

Party Tip: I make pizza for my kids birthday parties, and for other parties too! I make them the day ahead, so I bake each one for 6 minutes. Then at the party, I throw them back in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese bubbles. That way they don’t get over-cooked! The top pizza is ready to eat, the bottom pizza is ready for the next day! Let the pizza full cool then wrap it in aluminum foil or cling film to store in the fridge for the next day.