I worked really hard this week to come up with a no-fail pizza dough and saucier-than-saucy tomato sauce. This resulted in me making 3 pizzas for lunch … for myself. Parr-tay. We were a little low in attendance numbers (it was just me and my dog Ernie, who was actually recovering from an upset tummy having torn into the garbage to eat a leftover pork chop (AGAIN)). But it was actually OK, because the pizza ROCKED. This pizza was a mix between the Canadian pizzas I like – light and airy – and more Italian thin crust, and cooked all the way through. I put the amazing-ness of this dough down to two things: Cyprus village flour and olive oil. First trick: I rubbed the flour with the olive oil. Second trick: A combination of Mitsides All Purpose Flour AND Mitsides Village Flour. Also, the sauce was rich without being acidic. I wanted something healthy, so I threw some fresh rocket on top, a little lemon, salt, some fresh parmigiano reggiano and some roasted pumpkin seeds (you may have noticed I am throwing pumpkin seeds on everything right now. I like them … and I also have way too many of them sitting in my fridge.) The other thing I will say about this pizza – you need to let the dough rest about 24 hours before you make it. This is great if you are planning a dinner party, and also if you are planning a nice dinner ahead of time for a busy day. Enjoy. Wishing you many happy pizza parties!
Level of Difficulty: 3/5
Preparation Time: about 25 hours (resting time included)
Cooking Time: about 12 to 17 minutes
Makes about 2 large pizzas
ingredients
for the dough
3 cups Mitsides all purpose flour
1 cup Mitsides village flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 & 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
for the sauce
1/2 cup Mitsides passata
1 tbs Mitsides tomato paste
1 can Mitsides chopped tomatoes (drained)
2 chopped fresh tomatoes
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs olive oil
6-7 diced chopped shallots
6 chopped basil leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste
for the topping
fresh wild rocket leaves to garnish
roasted pumpkin seeds to garnish
chopped spring onion to garnish
shaved parmigiano reggiano to garnish
olive oil, lemon and salt to taste
recipe
To Make The Dough:
1. Make the dough one day ahead of when you plan to make the pizza. Start by sprinkling the yeast in the warm water. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.
2. Mix the salt and flours together in a large bowl. Add the olive oil into the flour and mix it with your hands until it is combined with the flour. Next, add the yeast and warm water mixture to the flour, until just combined.
3. The dough mixture will be sticky! This is OK, you want it to be sticky, but dry enough you can form it into a ball. Form the dough mixture into a ball.
4. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to another bowl. Place the ball into the bowl and toss the ball in the olive oil to coat it. Then cover the dough with plastic, and cover the top of the bowl tightly with another piece of plastic. Place in the fridge until the next day. Take it out 1/2 an hour before you begin to make the pizza.
To Make The Sauce:
5. Make the sauce (you can also make this one day ahead and place it in the fridge). Add the drained tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and passata in a blender. Pulse a couple times (you don’t want the sauce to be too smooth at this stage).
6. In a large saucepan on medium heat butter and oil until melted. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano and salt to taste. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes. Then add tomato, onion, basil and sugar. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting, stirring occasionally and let reduce for about 45 minutes. Season to taste with additional salt. Let cool, and then pulse the sauce again in a blender to make it smooth for spreading purposes.
To Make The Pizza:
7. Preheat oven to its highest setting (225C).
8. Sprinkle a little all purpose flour on an overturned baking sheet and spread it around with your fingers.
9. Take about half of the pizza dough form the bowl and stretch it into a large rectangle. Use your fingers to spread the dough. Don’t worry if holes appear, just pinch them together with your fingers. The dough should be very thin.
10. Then generously spread tomato sauce on the dough. (You can also cook the dough for 5 to 7 minutes and then add the tomato sauce for a more “saucy” feel to it. I usually add an additional tablespoon of sauce to the pizza once I remove it from the oven. You can also add a tablespoon of olive oil together with the tomato sauce at this stage for added taste – and also add your pizza toppings at this stage. I added my toppings once I removed the pizza from the oven because I wanted fresh salad on top.)
11. Bake for 12 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
12. Remove from pan and slice with a pizza cutter. Garnish with fresh rocket, spring onions, pumpkin seeds and shaved parmigiano reggiano and enjoy!
Dough recipe slightly adapted from the amazing The Pioneer Woman’s “My Favourite Pizza” Recipe.
