"NEVER EAT WOBBLY JELLY": Cook-athon Part 3

Seriously when you've got time you have to make some of this, it is so easy but really useful & I have to say, quite impressive to have your own dough at the ready :)

This recipe makes enough dough for around 8 bases - if you like them thin, obviously if you like them thick it'll make less.... This is another Jamie Oliver recipe - "Cook your way to the Good Life"

1kg strong white bread flour
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons extra virgin oil
650ml lukewarm water

Sieve the flour 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 foe 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 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'.

At this point, you can either use it immediately or divide into balls and pop into the fridge or the freezer for a later date :).

When it comes to using the dough this is what to do....
First of all it's best to roll out the dough bases about 15-20mins before you want to cook them. if you want to worked more in advance and be fully prepped, you can roll them into 'rough' circles and place on a olive-oil + flour dusted rubbed piece of foil. Then stack the bases cover with clingfilm and pop into the fridge.
If using dough that has been frozen, get it out in the morning and pop onto a plate - warning if they were originally wrapped in cling - this will explode as they warm up so make sure you pop a loose piece of cling over the top or a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out.

At a later date I'll do a post for a good tomato base sauce, in the meantime I'm sure you've got a rough idea of what to use for a tomato sauce :D

This bit is KEY to making the best pizza at home. so listen carefully!!
Preheat your oven to full whack and place a large thick baking tray, pizza stone or granite slab into the oven to warm up. (went to our local Topps Tiles that was closing down and they gave me 4 free granite slabs!! which work perfectly)

Taking into consideration the size of the granite slab, i cut out a piece of baking paper to the correct size - a large square. Sprinkle with a little flour then place my ball of dough on top then start rolling out from the center until I reach a nice circle, about 0.5-1cm in thickness. I then place it on another 'no edge' baking tray and place all my topping on. the 'no edge tray then is used as a shovel to slide the pizza on the parchment straight onto the granite slab. Viola!! leave for 10mins - and you'll have a delicious crispy divine pizza!!.

PS. As tempting as it is, try not to overload the pizza with topping as it'll just make everything to soggy...

As I'm giving a lot of this dough away I'm hoping to get some shots of what their pizzas ended up like - if they're any good I'll pop them up - the pressure is ON!! :D

Mx

Here are some photos from the lucky folk who got some dough:

Jo, Rich & Harrison's pizzas