Thin, crusty pizzas

Serves: 8

Edit

Update

Cancel

• FOR THE DOUGH
• 500 gram(s) unbleached strong white flour
• 1  sachet easy-blend yeast or 1 tsp quick yeast
• 2 teaspoon(s) sea salt
• 0.5 teaspoon(s) sugar
• 300 ml hand-hot bottled spring water
• 2 tablespoon(s) extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the warm water, followed by 1½ tbsp of the oil; mix to a soft dough. Gather the dough into a ball and turn it onto a lightly floured board. Knead it for about 10 minutes, until it feels springy.
2. To make the dough in an electric mixer, put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in the bowl. With the balloon whisk fitted, turn on the machine to a low setting, add the warm water, followed by 1½tbsp of the oil. As soon as the roughest of doughs has been formed, change the whisk for the dough hook and knead for 5 minutes. Turn the dough on to a floured board, knead it briefly and form into a ball.
3. Wash, dry and oil the bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until it has doubled its bulk - about 1 to 1½ hours.
4. The easiest way to divide the dough into equal pieces is by weight. For small, individual 20cm pizzas, you need 8 x 100g balls of dough. When rolling out the dough, keep the remainder covered to stop it drying out.
5. Half an hour before baking the pizzas turn the oven to its hottest setting, 250ºC (500ºF) gas mark 9. Place a pizza stone or heavy baking sheet in the oven to heat up. Working on a lightly floured board, roll out a 100g ball of dough to a 20cm disc. A fail-safe way to check the size and transfer it easily in and out of the oven is to lay it on a disc of baking parchment on a baker's peel. To improvise a peel, use a rimless baking sheet or the removable base of a large tart or cake tin. Prick the dough at approximately 2cm intervals with a fork, brush it lightly with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Leave it to rise for about 15 minutes.
6. Choose your toppings, brush them with a little olive oil and slide the pizza into the oven on its paper. Bake for 7-10 minutes and slide it out on its paper, onto a heated plate. Whisk out the paper, and eat at once.
7. Pizza toppings
8. Mozzarella cheese - go for a few slivers of a ball of the fresh curd, made with water-buffalo milk and sold in a bath of its own whey. You may even need to dry it a little in a sieve.
9. Fresh, soft goat's-milk cheese is another choice that melts deliciously.
10. For a stronger cheesy flavour, try a sliver or two of sticky Italian Taleggio or a Gruyère -style cheese.
11. Something salty is a must. Italian pancetta , or home-cured bacon , works well as long as it is sliced wafer thin. Stoned and quartered black olives - the wrinkly kind with plenty of taste - are ideal, as are anchovy fillets (preferably the ones that are salted then packed in olive oil).
12. For something veggie, raw asparagus tips , when in season, are lovely with mozzarella. Or opt for slivers of ripe red peppers - but only if they have been roasted, peeled and seeded. Other possibilities include thinly sliced wild mushrooms , thinly sliced onion rings and cherry tomatoes .
13. When it comes to herbs, fresh basil , sage , thyme or oregano are hard to beat, but think about the taste. Does your flavour combination need a herb at all? Recipe by Shona Crawford Poole

• Rated:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

by 0 people

View more recipes from

Add your own comments

Here are some alternate versions of this recipe created by our wonderful community of chefs!