Pizza

Nothing like homemade pizza! The über family dining experience. It’s fun because the toddler will be happy to help build the pizza. You’ll see, this will take you about 3.5 hours, of which an hour is prep work which you do during about 3 hours waiting for stuff and then you have about 20-30 minutes baking.

Ingredients first. The dough for 4 pizze: 400 grams of strong white flour, 100 grams of semolina, 20 grams of fresh baker’s yeast, 1 table spoon of salt, 3 table spoons of olive oil, 300 ml of lukewarm water.

You mix the water, olive oil and yeast. Separately, you mix the two kinds of flour and the salt. Then you add both together and mix it up real nice, pour it onto your work surface and start kneading. While kneading, use white flour until you get the consistency right. You will need to practice to get the touch but I can tell you with the above ingredients, I will need to add at least another 80 grams of flour, otherwise the dough is too sticky, it has to be smooth (very different to the bread recipe!). I like to have too little flour and add bit by bit so I can feel the dough getting right as I work it. The technique you use is “press and stretch” with the heels of your hands. It’ll take you 10 minutes, about.

Once done, form a nice ball, cover it with flour all around, put it in a bowl and cover it with cling foil, a damp tea towel or beeswax paper. Set it aside let it grow during 2 hours.

Now to the sauce. It and the dough make the pizza, everything else is secondary. With the toppings you can experiment as you like, but you must have a good dough and a tasty tomato sauce. I personally like to add only a bit of sauce to the pizza, so I need a sauce strong in taste. I use 5 fresh roma tomatoes, a bunch of fresh basil, dried oregano flakes, about a table spoon of a strong tomato paste, one onion, two cloves of garlic and one red chili pepper chopped finely. To season, I add salt, black pepper and some nutmeg.

I recommend making a small second batch without the chili pepper, salt and black pepper for the baby.

Now you fry the onion on low heat in plenty of olive oil until they are golden, then you add the chili and the garlic. Let it simmer, then add the tomato paste. Now season it (salt, pepper and nutmeg). Chop your tomatoes in small cubes, add them to the mix (try not to loose the juice, you want to add that). Let it cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, then add the basil and the oregano. Simmer for another 3 minutes. Turn of the heat, blitz it briefly and rest it in its pan without lid for an hour. It will absorb the liquidity and make it creamy. Done.

Now prepare your toppings. Whatever you like. Today, I make a classic but very cheesy prosciutto e fungi (ham and mushrooms). We love cheese! I want the toppings to be prepped so that my toddler can build the pizza as easily. Yes, that’s what it comes down to: I’m pretty much his sous-chef. Anyway, in separate little bowls I put grated cheese, mozzarella pieces (torn off, not cut), goat cheese, thickly cut mushrooms and shoulder ham strips. I also add some bell pepper to give the pizza a nice bite in the end.

Now your dough should be ready as it should have doubled in size and formed little bubbles. Take it out of its bowl, use again plenty of white flour, and knead it down for about 5 minutes, using the same press and stretch technique. Once done, form three or four balls (depending on whether you like a thin pizza crust or a thicker, more bread-like one). I do three this time. Cover the balls again with flour and let them rest another hour under a dry towel.

About an hour before you want to eat your pizza, set your oven to as high as it can get. Mine does 250 Celsius. If you use a pizza stone which I do and highly recommend, put it inside and let it heat up for the entire time. Of course you can use your basic baking sheet, it is totally fine. Some ovens have a pizza setting (bottom heat and stuff). I tried it all and ended up liking the hot air setting best after all.

Take your pizza balls and knead them again separately (they will have doubled in size again, you will see). Take the balls you don’t need today, cover again in flour, wrap in cling foil and freeze. Now, whenever you want pizza, take them out of the freezer 12 hours or so before use and let them defrost in the fridge.

I only use one ball today, it will feed 3.5 people if you are not too hungry. Stretch it out. To be honest, I use a rolling pin, I do not have those amazing pizzaiolo skills, sadly. But you could give it a try if you fancy! Take your hot pizza stone out of the oven, cover it with semolina, lay your pizza dough on it and cover it with semolina, too. Call your toddler to help build the pizza. Please, please, make sure your toddler understands that the stone is super hot and cannot be touched. Do not take your eyes off him while he eagerly builds the pizza, Please!

Together, you smear some of the sauce on it. My toddler claims to hate tomatoes, by the way, but he loves them as a pizza sauce, ha ha. I believe it has to do with him helping. Anyway, now he can add other stuff. The order does not matter much but I would recommend that the mozzarella come last as it gives a nice crust when baked. In the end, I like to add some paprika powder to give the baked mozzarella a nice golden color.

Note: You can make a small separate pizza for your baby with a softer, unseasoned sauce and just a little cheese, or you can leave a corner of the pizza to prepare his piece. Just remember which one it was.

Slide the pizza in the hot oven and bake for about 20 minutes or so. Keep an eye on it as you do not want to burn it. Take it out and let your toddler proudly present his work to the rest of the family.

Oh man, I love pizza.