We love home made pizza in our house, and it seems to appear on the menu every week. Its perfect as I usually make 2 at one go, 1 for kids, 1 for adults, its also dead easy to split a pizza in half with ingredients so one side can have cheese, the other pepperoni… everyone’s happy. AND I can sneak some grated veges onto the kids one, like courgettes which Bailey wouldn’t usually eat so win win all round! I have always been very open about making life in the kitchen as easy as possible and I find 2 things really help with making my pizzas. I tend to cheat and make the pizza base in the fab Kenwood bread maker I have had for years. Pop the ingredients in… an hour and a half later… perfect pizza dough! Works so well with my routine as its the perfect time to pop out to the gym, or watch a film with Bailey, whilst the bread maker does all the work. The other top tip I have is using a proper pizza tray, I have 2 Pyrex ones, and they stop the pizzas sticking and the holes in the bottom help to create the perfect crispy crust and prevent any soggy bottoms in the centre!
INGREDIENTS (for making 2 pizza bases in the bread maker)
- 250 ml of tepid water
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 450 g white bread flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp easy blend dried yeast
INGREDIENTS (for making 1 pizza base in the bread maker)
- 140ml of tepid water
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 225g white bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp easy blend dried yeast
TOPPINGS (list is endless but here are some of our favourites)
for the base (per pizza base)
- 100g tomato puree
- ½ jar of green pesto
- 4 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
top with
- 125g of mozzarella or I like to use the mozzarella balls and half them
- grated cheddar cheese
- 3 sliced sundried tomatoes
- sliced peppers
- sliced or grated courgette
- sliced mushrooms
- tinned tuna
- tinned sweetcorn
- 6 olives with chilli halved
- 2-3 sliced artichoke hearts from a jar
- 4 sliced pepperoni or chorizo
finish with
- a drizzle of olive oil or chilli oil
- torn fresh thyme
- torn fresh basil (best added after cooking)
- Remove the bread pan from the bread maker and fit the kneader.
- Pour into the bread pan the water and olive oil. then add the flour, salt and sugar. Make a small well in the flour (not so far that you reach the water level) and add the yeast.
- Insert and lock the bread pan and set the bread maker to the pizza setting (on mine its programme 13 PIZZA DOUGH).
- Once the dough is ready, lightly oil and flour your pizza baking tray. Preheat the oven to 200 fan.
- Take out the bread pan and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. If making 2 pizzas, divide the mixture in half and roll out each dough ball to about 30 cm (12 inches) and place into the prepared pizza baking tray.
- Spread over your base topping i.e. tomato puree/pesto followed by the rest of your topping, leaving the cheese topping until last. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (if there isn’t much topping i.e. mozzarella and tomato I would say 15 mins is enough).
- Transfer to a wooden board and cut with a pizza slice.
thelegendarybrownie 