Cauliflower Pizza Base

Cauliflower pizza bases have been making the rounds on blogs, and in the news a lot in the past few months. I’m a little late at joining the party as I only made and tasted my first cauliflower base pizza a couple of weekends ago, when I met up with my sister. We like to get together every few months, catch up with each others news and cook something for lunch. Cauliflower pizza is something we have both been longing to try for some time so pizza it was to be!

The base is made of blitzed, lightly cooked cauliflower that is bound together with ground almonds and eggs before being prebaked to form a ‘crust’ on which to spread your pizza toppings. Its gluten free, dairy free, paleo, flourless and grainless so would suit a wide variety of diets. It’s lower carb, is fibre packed and higher in protein than your traditional bready pizza base. So far so good.

After cooking the cauliflower and squeezing out the excess water we were left with a mix that almost resembled a dough. We combined this with the other ingredients to create a thick paste which is then baked. It turned a lovely golden brown colour and smelt really good when baking. Slightly nutty, no sodden cauliflower aroma. You make a little rim around the edge to hold in your toppings and give it that risen crust appearance, which is a nice touch.

After adding our toppings - mushrooms, artichoke hearts, courgette, peppers, olives and a sprinkle of chilli for us - it had a final bake before we tucked in.

We had a slight issue with getting it off the baking parchment, it had stuck in some places and being a softer, not so sturdy veg base rather than a chewy bread dough it was hard to get it off without tearing it. Note to self, next time use a silicone baking sheet, nothing ever seems to stick to them!

Once plated we took our first bites. It was interesting…good interesting but different. It had the flavour of pizza, but without the right texture. The crust was more of a base than an actual crisp crust. It was softer and lighter, slightly coarse in texture and reminded me strongly of a thick oat pancake in texture. It carried the flavours of the pizza toppings well, but you didn’t get that same crunch or chew as you experience from a bread dough base. It was also quite fragile, definitely a knife and fork job, you couldn’t pick it up with your fingers.

I know it sounds like we didn’t enjoy it, but we did! The flavour was delicious and we both agreed if you wanted a change from regular pizza or had a diet that normally prohibited pizza then this would be a great alternative. The base was slightly sweet and nutty, and we didn’t detect any overcooked sodden-sock taste or aroma to the cauliflower, it was very neutral. Nor did it taste overly of almonds or taste like a dessert, something we were a little worried about as it was so almond packed.

It was definitely like eating pizza baked onto a large pancake. Only the very exposed edges had stayed crisp, the rest having softened under the moisture from the sauce and toppings. That aside, we loved it and both agreed that we felt energised all afternoon without that usual bloat or drowsiness that often follows a pizza fest.

I want to make it again but try and tweak the base recipe to make it more of a crispy crust. To me that’s part of what makes pizza so great. We used a recipe from BBC Good Food, but I’ve seen others that don’t use the ground almonds and just use cauliflower and egg for the base. I think they may work better at forming a lighter, crisper, less pancake-like crust. Experimentation ahead!

Have you tried cauliflower pizza? What did you think?

Cauliflower Pizza Base

(Recipe from BBC Good Food)

Base

1 head cauliflower (about 750g)

100g ground almonds

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp dried oregano

Salt & pepper

Oil for greasing

Tomato Sauce

2 tsp oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 x 220g can chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato purée

½ tsp dried oregano

Small bunch basil leaves

Salt and pepper

Toppings of choice

1 x ball mozzarella

Courgette, mushrooms, olives, peppers, artichoke hearts, chilli etc

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Line two baking trays with silicone sheets or baking parchment that is greased with oil.

Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and trim the stalk end. Cut into chunks and blitz in a food processor until finely chopped, like rice. (You may need to do this in two batches).

Tip the cauliflower in a bowl, cover with cling film and microwave on high for 5-6 minutes until softened. Tip onto a clean tea towel and leave to cool a little. Once cool enough to handle, scrunch up the tea towel, twist and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. It should feel dry and almost look like dough. Then transfer it into a clean bowl.

Stir in the ground almonds, egg, oregano and seasoning. Mound half the cauliflower mix into the centre of each tray, then cover with a layer of cling film and use the flat of your hand to smooth the mixture out into an 8-9inch round. Pat the edges in to make it a little thicker and create a ‘crust’.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp a little at the edges.

Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat a little oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic until softened. Pour in the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, oregano and a few leaves of basil. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 8-10 minutes until thick. Season to taste.

Once the cauliflower base is cooked, set aside to cool a little. Turn the oven up to 240C.

Prepare your toppings of choice. Spread the tomato sauce over the bases leaving a rim around the edge. Arrange your toppings of choice over the top and finish with some blobs of mozzarella. Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes, depending on how thick you’ve made your bases and how much topping you have piled on!

Once cooked, leave to stand for 3 minutes before using a fish slice or palette knife to remove the pizzas from the tray. Scatter over some more basil leaves before serving.

Makes 2 x 8-9 inch pizzas, or one massive one.

Udi’s Gluten Free Pizza Base Mix Review

Udi’s are an American gluten free company, and their products became available in the UK a couple of years ago. I was aware of them before they came to the UK, having tasted some of their bagels when visiting a friend in California a few years ago. I loved the bagel and so was delighted when they were one of the first products they introduced to the UK market. I have tried quite a selection of Udi’s products now, and they are introducing more and more due to increasing demand. I’ve found some to be a bit hit and miss, but their bagels are probably one of my most regular purchases (especially the choc chip and savoury ones!)

Anyway, enough about bagels. Udi’s have just launched a whole selection of baking mixes and asked if I would be interested in trying some out. Being a good home baker, baking mixes are not something I have bought before, but I was interested to see how they would compare. I was sent a pizza base mix, bread mix, cake mix and flour mix.

Making bread and pizza is quite difficult to achieve gluten free, as breads rely so prevalently on gluten to help give them their texture and structure. It just so happened that the time the mixes arrived, I was looking after my younger brother and so together we decided to try out the pizza base mix for lunch.

I found the ingredient list and method to be a little disjointed across all the range. As I’ve previously mentioned they are an American company, but I would have expected the packaging to have been made more UK friendly, as the extra ingredients required were stated in tablespoons and cups rather than grams. However the total weight of the mix is given in grams and has been given a coeliac UK accredited logo, so they must have updated the packaging for this. The cooking times too were not consistent, with the pizza base mix being stated in Gas Mark and Degrees Celsius, whereas the white bread mix was provided in Ferinheight only. Another thing I thought was slightly odd is that the instructions tell you use to use the whole bag of pizza mix (570g) which then makes 9 x 6inch pizzas – who needs that many in all in one go?!

Nit picking about packaging aside, I got to work, using only half the mix and was pleased with how quick and easy it was to put together. A bag of flour mix is provided along with a sachet of yeast. Water and oil are the only additional ingredients required.

The instructions state to use a stand mixer, which I don’t own, so I used a spoon and my hands which worked fine. After a short prove I had a lovely soft pizza dough. The instructions say “let rise in a warm area for 40 minutes. Bake for 16-20 minutes at 200C” No mention of when to add toppings (before or after baking), so I went for adding toppings on raw pizza dough and then baking on a preheated baking tray to ensure a crisp base. I suspect this was the right thing to do but I would have liked the instructions to be a little clearer.

I topped my pizza with some leftover tomato salsa, cauliflower, courgette and mozzarella, and finished it with some fresh mint when cooked. Meanwhile, my brother went for a meaty feast of leftover smoked ham, bacon and mozzarella. Both pizzas turned out well. The edges crisped up nicely and turned pale golden brown.

The middle and base of the pizzas were cooked, and had a slight chew which was nice. It was sturdy enough to hold without crumbling apart and wasn’t gritty to eat. Potato and tapioca starch are some of the main flour ingredients in the mix, so I suspect this helped the chew and binding properties. The flavour was good, not too salty, although I did find it slightly sweet for my tastes.

My brother happily devoured his pizza, so it passed the non coeliac eater test. He said it wasn’t quite ‘bready’ enough, but he’d happily eat it.

For ease and convenience I was impressed with the Udi's pizza mix and it’s the kind of thing I would consider buying if I wanted to host or was invited to a mid week pizza making evening with friends. I do however feel more care should have been taken over the units of measure for the ingredients (grams rather than cups) and more consistency given to the cooking temperatures across the range. They should at least be consistent with each other and ideally more geared for the UK market.

I look forward to seeing what other products Udi’s develop. I’ve seen on their American website that have cinnamon rolls – please can we try those in the UK too!

Leiths School of Food & Wine: Gluten Free Bread

Last week I spent two very exciting days attending a gluten free baking course at Leiths School of Food &Wine! I’ve was diagnosed coeliac nearly 4 years ago, and although I’ve never allowed it to stop me from baking, I’ve never had any kind of training or professional advice about the best ways of creating gluten free dishes and foods and so decided it was high time I did.

I wanted to learn some special techniques for some of the more complicated/advanced aspects of gluten free baking, rather than just a general beginners gluten free cookery course, which would probably have covered things like cakes and biscuits, which I feel I have mastered pretty well on my own. Instead I selected two individual day courses to combine for a more in depth knowledge of some of the most problematic foods to create when baking gluten free. Day 1 was Gluten Free Bread and Day 2 was Gluten Free Pastry.

The bread course was great fun. We were a fairly small group of only 7 students, meaning we all got to work around the one big table, chat and get to know each other. Being a gluten free course everyone there was either coeliac or had a wheat intolerance. It was so nice to be in a group of people and feel ‘normal’ while we all chatted about our favourite recipes and restaurants and the little bug-bears we have about gluten free. We were 6 girls and 1 male, who along with the female cast of teacher and 2 female assistants was a little outnumbered. David was lovely though and reminded me a bit of Howard from the previous series of Great British Bake Off.

What I enjoyed the most was how hands on it was. Our teacher over both days was a lovely lady called Adriana, a past Leiths student, who started specializing in gluten free after her daughter was diagnosed coeliac. Adriana would show us a recipe, describing the techniques to use and the reasons behind why certain ingredients were used. We were then let loose to create the same recipe ourselves.

First up was gluten free focaccia. When baking gluten free bread you need a sough that it is a lot wetter and softer than regular bread dough. It’s more like a thick paste and you can’t knead it as you would for wheat bread. This is because the wheat flour (and gluten) is replaced with a range of starches and gums that absorb a lot more water, and it needs to be wet enough to allow these starches to become hydrated and rise without being too heavy and dense.

The focaccia recipe also used some ground almonds as one of the ingredients that I thought at first was a little odd, but Adriana explained that this was to help improve the breads protein content. This wasn’t done for health reasons, but for structure. Gluten is the protein found in wheat and so if this is removed, they the structure that makes up the texture of the bread will also change. Adding gums can help replicate the elasticity of gluten, but adding another protein source can also help the structure and texture of some breads – top tip! Makes sense once you think about it.

We shaped our focaccia breads by smoothing out the dough with very wet hands, left it to prove, dimpled the top with our fingers to create the characteristic hollows in the top, drizzled with olive oil and decorated with sea salt and fresh rosemary sprigs. A short bake later and we were all bring fantastically crisp and golden focaccias out of the oven. The aroma from the fresh rosemary was mouthwatering.

As always happens it was interesting to see how the same recipe could produce slightly different results for each of us. I was very proud when I was deemed Star Baker for my focaccia!

We hungrily tore off pieces to taste and I was very impressed. The crust was crisp with a great salty flavour and the inside was soft and springy, with well defined air holes that are characteristic of focaccia. The rosemary had given it a wonderful fragrance too. After a quick taste we set them to one side to cool and began work on our pizza bases which would be our lunch.

I worked next to a lovely girl called Kizzy and as the day wore on we discovered we had a lot in common including a love of food and baking. It was such a treat to find a kindred spirit and we helped each other out throughout the day. The recipe for the Focaccia is below and the course also included Pizza, Seeded Crackers, Chai Multi Seed Loaf, Teff Bread, Corn Tortillas and…Brioche!!!

Some of the recipes I felt were more successful than others but the hints and tips and knowledge I picked up throughout the day was wonderful. Adriana and all the staff were so friendly and open with their knowledge and encouraged questions that it was a great day. We got to take all our breads (that we hadn’t previously devoured) home with us.

I was most excited by the brioche. It was meant to be orange and cranberry, but they ran out of ingredients and so instead I improvised with a chocolate chip, sour cherry and freshly ground cardamom version. My brioche loaves were still hot from the oven when I had to run for my train home and so I ended up perfuming the train with the heady scent of cardamom (I got a little over excited and added far too much to my brioche) but it smelt and tasted lovely. The texture was not quite like regular brioche but for a soft buttery yeasty sweet bread it was divine!

Note: I’d highly recommend the course and wanted to point out that I attended the course of my own accord. I was not invited by Leiths to attend, I received no discount on the fees and they never knew I write a food blog.

Next up pastry!

Gluten Free Focaccia (also egg and dairy free)

Ingredients

110g gluten free plain flour (we used Doves Farm plain)

220g cornflour (corn starch)

55g ground almonds

2 tsp salt

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp caster sugar

14g quick active dry yeast

350g/ml tepid water

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

Fresh rosemary sprigs

1 tsp sea salt for sprinkling

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C. Place a large baking tray into the oven to heat up. Lay a sheet of silicone paper onto your work bench.

Combine the flours, ground almonds, salt, xanthan gum, sugar and yeast into a bowl. Mix well to ensure all combines.

Weigh out the water and add the olive oil. It should be warm but not hot.

Pour most (not all) of the water over the dry ingredients and beat with a wooden spoon until everything is combined. It should be thick but wet to the touch. A few lumps are fine. Beat for 1 minute. You want a wet dough without it being runny, it must still hold a little shape without oozing. Add a little more water if needed.

Turn the dough onto the silicone paper and form into a mound. Dip the whole palm of your hand into a bowl of water and you’re your hand to gently shape and smooth the dough into an oval shape, around 1 inch thick. Keep dipping your hand into the water to smooth it out, it should look very wet and smooth on top when done. Don’t worry its looking too wet.

Once formed, set aside to prove for 20 minutes.

Once slightly puffed, dip your fingers into water and dock the dough to form dimples in the surface, only make the hollows about halfway into the dough, don’t press to the base. Be gentle as the dough will be soft and airy.

Brake off sprigs of rosemary and place some inside each of the hollows. Sprinkle over a generous amount of coarse sea salt and drizzle with a little extra olive oil.

Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and slide the focaccia onto it, still on its silicone paper. Return to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

Remove from the oven and tap the base of the bread, it should sound hollow. If not, bake for a further 5 minutes and test again.

Transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Eat or freeze on day of baking.

Pizza Hut Suitable for Coelicas? – Yes!

It has been many a year since I have eaten at Pizza Hut. It’s hardly the first place you’d think of when planning a gluten free meal out. However, on reading the latest Coeliac UK newsletter I was very excited to learn that Pizza Hut have just introduced a new gluten free pizza. They have worked closely with Coeliac UK to ensure there is no cross contamination and even changed some of their topping suppliers so that all their toppings are gluten free too.

Hearing that something is gluten free instantly makes me want to try it out and so I asked a friend to come with me and do a bit of gluten free research. We ordered our pizzas and the server knew all about the new gluten free base which put me at my ease. When our pizzas arrived I was thrilled to find that all the gluten free pizzas come on square pizza bases – yes square! How cool is that? Not only do they look funky and stylish, but eliminates any doubt that the pizzas had got mixed up with the regular ones. Great idea!

So how did it taste? Very good actually, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe slightly denser than a regular pizza base, but it wasn’t crumbly, dry, gummy or as hard as a house brick. The base had quite a nice flavour and was thinner than most gluten free pizzas bases I’ve had, which often are so thick you have to spend several minutes sawing through them. There were plenty of toppings and the pizza itself was of a very generous size. It’s lovely to know there is somewhere regular on the high street that I could find a meal, should the need arise, or if I’m out somewhere new. I’m sure my friends will be pleased at the prospect of going out for dinner without having to feel guilty at eating pizza in front of me. Have you tried Pizza Huts square gluten free pizza? What did you think?

I’ve heard Domino’s, Prezzo and Ask are also launching gluten free pizzas – more taste testing trips required I think!

Note: Pizza Hut did not pay or ask me to write anything about them. I was just very excited to discover their new pizza and wanted to share the experience.

Easter Pizza

With Easter just around the corner this usually results in a flurry of sweet chocolate based baking. This year, along with the usual sweet treats I decided to make an eggception and eggspand into the savoury section and bake an eggcellent pizza too – and it’s egg shaped – how eggciting! *after receiving many rolling of eyes* Ok, enough of the egg related puns!

When people mention Easter and food I’m sure most of us instantly think of chocolate eggs and other sweet goodies, but I don’t see why the Easter egg theme can’t be applied to savoury foods too – afterall traditionally chocolate has nothing to do with Easter. I have been planning on making pizza for a while now and today finally got around to organising myself to make it. While shaping the base I decided to have a bit of fun and make it egg shaped and then to decorate the top in a design. It sort of worked, just squint a bit…see the olives are gems and the pepper strips and the zig-zag design. I may not be the best looking egg inspired pizza, but I had fun being creative and it tasted yummy and that’s what matters.

My pizza took a Greek route as I had some olives and feta to use up in the fridge but obviously you can add whatever takes your fancy. You can make bespoke individual egg shaped pizzas to suit your friends and families topping preferences or if they are not fussy then just bake a giant one and divide it up.

I used my favourite pizza dough recipe for the base, it’s a no knead dough that simply needs mixing together the night before and then leaving in the fridge overnight to slowly bubble and develop into a lovely silky soft and stretchy dough. It couldn’t be easier and means you can be eating pizza within 20 minutes of walking in the door the following day, much quicker than a takeaway or even a shop bought pizza.

I hope everyone has an eggcellent Easter!

Easter Pizza

For the pizza dough
320g strong plain white flour
¾ tsp salt
15g fresh yeast (or 7g dried)
30ml olive oil
210ml warm water
1 tsp caster sugar

Tomato topping
1 onion
1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings of your choice
Feta cheese
Olives
Orange pepper
Mushrooms
Fresh basil
Sun dried tomatoes


Method – for the pizza dough

Heat the water until it is just warm to the touch but not hot. Add the olive oil and crumble in the fresh yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved.
Place the flour and salt into a large bowl and pour over the yeast mixture. Mix together using the tips of your fingers until a sticky dough is formed.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth, around 3 minutes. The dough should become less sticky although still tacky to the touch.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with clingfilm. Place in the fridge overnight or for up to 5 days.
Tear off chunks of dough when required.
Makes enough dough for 3 x 9inch pizzas.

For the tomato topping
Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and oregano. Cook until soft, then finely crush the garlic and add to the pan. Cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes, sundried tomato paste and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer for 15 minutes until the mixture has reduced and thickened.
Allow to cool in the pan, then transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film and keep in the fridge until required.
Makes enough sauce to cover 3 pizza bases.

To assemble
When ready to eat the pizza, preheat the oven to its hottest setting, usually around 250-275C. Place a pizza stone or baking tray into the oven to heat up.
Have a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat ready and dust the top with flour or fine cornmeal.
Lightly dust your hands with flour and tear off a third of the pizza dough. Gently stretch it, pulling from the middle outwards, to your desired thickness.
When the dough is quite thin, lay it onto a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat and pull into shape.
Spread a third of the tomato sauce over the top, leaving a small rim around the edge.
Add the toppings - assorted vegetables or meats of your choosing and a few torn basil leaves.
Grate or crumble the cheese of your choice over the top.
Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and quickly slide the sheet of baking parchment with your pizza on it, onto the baking tray and return to the oven. (This ensures the base is cooked and crisp at the same time as the top).
Bake for 8-10 minutes until the crisp, golden brown and bubbling.
Eat and enjoy.

If you are still craving something sweet then here is a list of my previous Easter themed sweet treats.
Simnel Cake – traditionally for Mothers Day but now often associated with Easter.

Chocolate Rice Krispie Mini Egg Nests

Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns

Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes topped with Mini Chocolate Rice Krispie Mini Mini Egg Nests

Midweek Veggie Pizza

This pizza dough has become my favourite of all the recipes I have tried. It involves very little effort as the ingredients and mixed and then left in the fridge overnight before being used, meaning you don’t have to worry too much about kneading or proving times as it works its magic overnight and always produced a lovely elastic dough. The dough can be kept for up to 5 days in the fridge meaning you can make it Sunday evening and then its all ready to go any evening of the week, whenever the pizza cravings kick in after a bad day, it can be on the table in under half an hour with no hassle. I think the dough actually improves over time and becomes more like a sourdough, it has a good crisp and slightly chewy crust and a great flavour. The tomato sauce can also be made in advance, so everything is ready to go and the only preparation required is forming the dough and adding a few topping. Faster than a takeaway and much tastier too.

The pizza is cooked at the highest temperature your oven can manage, meaning it’s done in only a matter of minutes. By placing a pizza stone or sturdy baking tray in the oven while it heats up to temperature, you then simply slide your pizza onto the hot tray and it immediately starts to cook and crisp up underneath, ensuring a lovely crisp crust – no more soggy bases!

Another great thing about pizzas is that you can put almost anything on them and I’ve found a whole host of ingredients which work well, if not considered a little unusual by some, including grated carrot and apple. This week’s find was beetroot, the fresh kind, not the pickled variety. I had some boiled beetroot sitting in the fridge and though – why not? So I added a few slices along with some peppers, mushrooms, red onion and slices of jarred artichoke hearts that were another fridge lingerer. I loved the taste of the beetroot, its short oven roasting really brought out its flavour and added a little zing against the other components and created a moody purple ring into the surrounding sauce. I don’t know why more restaurants don’t offer it as a pizza topping; I bet it would be fantastic finished with a bit of crumbled goats cheese.

Midweek Veggie Pizza
For the pizza dough
320g strong plain white flour
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp instant yeast
30ml olive oil
210ml water
2 tsp caster sugar

Tomato topping
1 onion
1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
2 mushrooms
2 artichoke hearts from a jar
½ red pepper
¼ red onion
Grated cheese or slices of mozzarella
1 cooked fresh beetroot (not pickled)

Method – For the pizza dough
Add the flour, salt, yeast and sugar into a bowl. Mix with your fingers and make a well in the centre.
Pour over the olive oil and water and mix together using the tips of your fingers until a sticky dough is formed.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth, around 5 minutes. The dough should become less sticky although still tacky to the touch.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with clingfilm. Place in the fridge overnight or up to 5 days.
Tear off chunks of dough when required. Enough for 3 x 9inch pizzas.

For the tomato topping
Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and oregano. Cook until soft, then finely crush the garlic and add to the pan. Cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes, sundried tomato paste and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer for 15 minutes until the mixture has reduced and thickened.
Allow to cool in the pan, then transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film and keep in the fridge until required.
Makes enough sauce to cover 3 pizza bases.

To assemble
When ready to eat the pizza, preheat the oven to its hottest setting, usually around 250-275C. Place a pizza stone or baking tray into the oven to heat up.
Have a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat ready and dust the top with flour or fine cornmeal.
Lightly dust your hands with flour and tear off a third of the pizza dough. Gently stretch it, pulling from the middle outwards, to your desired thickness.
When the dough is quite thin, lay it onto a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat and pull into shape. (Can create a 9inch/23cm circle or 25cmx15cm rectangle).
Spread a third of the tomato sauce over the top, leaving a small rim around the edge.
Add slices of mushrooms and other assorted vegetables or meats of your choosing.
Grate or crumble the cheese of your choice over the top.
Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and quickly slide the sheet of baking parchment with your pizza on it, onto the baking tray and return to the oven.
Bake for 8-9 minutes until the crisp, golden brown and bubbling.
(If you pile lots of topping on, then baking may take a couple of minutes longer).
Eat and enjoy.

Daring Bakers October Challenge: Pizza Dough

This month’s challenge was to make an authentic pizza dough that had been allowed to age and mature overnight. As an extra challenge this month our host Rosa from Rosa’s Yummy Yums, said we had to attempt to toss the dough in true Italian style!

Although we had to make an authentic pizza dough, our toppings were allowed to be as unauthentic and experimental as we pleased. So running with this freedom I chose to top my pizza with pureed apple for the sauce element and spinach, pumpkin, ricotta and walnuts for the toppings. Sounds a little crazy I know but I was thinking autumnal foods. Apple and pumpkin go together and so do the nuts. The ricotta works well with sweet and savoury flavours so that was in and the spinach, well it added a nice colour and it goes well with ricotta. No matter how strange the combo might sound it turned out to be a hit. I especially loved the apple ‘sauce’ – apple on a pizza who knew?!

I was also very impressed with the dough. It was a little sticky to work with at first but produced a great soft and stretchy dough. I froze most of my dough balls for future use but kept one in the fridge overnight to ferment and mature. I ended up leaving it for two nights and when I peeked at it after the two days it looked like it was trying to make a bid for freedom out of its bowl and was full of large air bubbles.

Tossing the dough was fun although I need to improve my technique as the middle ended up nice and thin but the edges stayed fat and puffy but I just squished it into place. Also, how do you produce a round pizza base? Mine always turn out oblong. I’m afraid the photos of me tossing the dough aren’t great, I was on my own and had to set balance the camera on the back of a chair and then try and catch the timer – but you get the idea.

I adored the flavour of this pizza base. Letting it mature really improved the flavour, it was almost like a sourdough, crisp brown crust, slightly chewy texture and full of air pockets. I had worried my apple topping would result in a soggy pizza base but it crisped up beautifully. All the toppings worked well together and when it came out of the oven I gave it a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg – essence of autumn on a plate.

Click here to view more daring bakers pizzas.

Pizza Dough

From “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).Ingredients:

620g white bread flour

1¾ tsp Salt

1 tsp Instant yeast

60ml olive oil

420ml water, cold

1 tbsp sugar

Semolina or cornmeal for dusting

Method – Day One:

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

Day Two or After Proving:8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and re-flour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully, then try again.You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
For my toppings

1 large cooking apple
50g ricotta cheese
2 handfuls fresh spinach
25g walnuts
75g pumpkin or squash
Freshly grated nutmeg

Method
Peel and core the apple and cut into small cubes. Heat in a pan along with 1tbsp water until soft and mushy. Allow to simmer gently until thick. Taste and if very sharp add a little sugar to sweeten (but you don’t want it too sweet). Leave to cool.
Cut some slices out of the pumpkin and remove the skin. Cut into small dice sized pieces.
Wash the spinach in hot water to wilt it slightly and remove any dust or grit.
When ready to top the pizza spread the apple puree evenly over the surface of the dough leaving a 1inch gap around the edges.
Lay the spinach leaves over the top of the apple. Scatter over the pumpkin chunks and distribute dots of ricotta in-between.
Break the walnuts into pieces using your fingers and scatter over the top.
Bake as instructed. (My pizza took nearly 15 minutes but I suspect this was because the apple was quite wet, but the base was wonderfully crisp).
Makes enough topping for one large pizza.

#17 HHDD - Carrot, Mushroom & Pumpkin Seed Pizza

Yes that’s right, your eyes are not deceiving you – carrot and pumpkin seeds on a pizza!! And, it’s delicious!

Before you think I’ve lost my mind, just stop and think about it for a second. The carrot is grated and so when it’s in the oven, it bakes and intensifies in flavour and adds a nice subtle sweetness. Think of how good roasted carrots taste, well it’s just like that. The pumpkin seeds toast and produce a wonderfully nutty flavour. Their thick skins prevent them from burning and tasting bitter. I added the mushrooms as one, I love mushrooms and two, there’re earthiness really complements the other flavours. I like my pizza's to have a thick fluffy edge and a thinner crisp base. I achieved this by stretching the dough from the middle outwards.

I first came up with this pizza topping when I was in my first year of university. I came home in a bad mood and really needed pizza. I didn’t have many ingredients to hand so I just used what I had and thus the carrot pizza was born. Its true students will eat anything, I ate my fair share of weird meals, the worst being passata, cottage cheese and lettuce in a stew – but that’s another story, thankfully this pizza was one of the more successful creations.

Although I often use this pizza topping, I have rarely been happy with the recipe for pizza dough. Most seem to either turn out with soggy bases, crisp so much that I fear loosing a tooth or simply weld themselves onto the tray. However, all that changed today – I have now found my perfect pizza dough. It’s using a method from the King Arthur Flour Company and involves baking the dough for 4 minutes in a very hot oven before adding the toppings. The result – no more soggy bases and it allows the dough to puff up, free from the heavy weights of toppings meaning it produces a wonderfully light and springy crust with a crisp base, ingenious. Hooray!

This is my entry to #17 ‘Hay Hay Its Donna Day’ run by ChichaJo of 80 Breakfasts. Surprise, surprise the theme is Pizza. You have until the 26th January to get your entries in, so get creating.

Carrot, Mushroom & Pumpkin Seed Pizza
For the pizza dough
(Adapted from Modern Claasic 1 by Donna Hay)
225g strong plain bread flour
¾ tsp fast action yeast
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
125 – 150ml warm water

Method
Place all the ingredients, expect the water, into a large bowl. Add half of the water and mix with your fingers to incorporate the water.
Add more water in small amounts until a dough has formed.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead with the base of your hand, adding dustings of extra flour when needed. The dough should be soft and tacky but not sticky.
Form the dough into a ball, it should still look a little rough on the surface, and place into a large greased bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place for an hour.
While waiting for the dough to rise, make the tomato sauce (see below).
Preheat the oven to 250C and place a baking tray into the oven to heat up. Have a sheet of greaseproof paper the same size as your baking tray to hand.
After proving, you can either place the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days or continue to make the pizza.
To continue, knead the dough lightly, only 1-2 times, to knock the dough back and then gently stretch to the shape of your greaseproof paper and lay the dough upon it.
When the oven is up to temperature, transfer your greaseproof paper with the pizza dough on it onto the hot baking tray and bake for 4 minutes until the dough puffs up and a light brown surface crust is formed.
Remove from the oven, top with sauce and your choice of toppings and then return to the oven to bake for 8-10 minutes more.
The crust should be golden brown and crisp and the toppings cooked and bubbling.
Eat and enjoy.
Makes 1 large pizza

For the tomato sauce
1 small can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
4 spring of fresh thyme
½ tsp sugar (if tomatoes are very sharp)
Black pepper

Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a simmer and cook until thickened and most of the water has evaporated. Place to one side and use when needed.

Additional toppings
1 large carrot
3 button mushrooms
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Fresh mozzarella

Cover the surface of the baked pizza crust with the tomato sauce, leaving an inch edge.
Grate the carrot and sprinkle over the tomato surface. Cut each mushroom into 6 and arrange over the carrot layer and sprinkle on the pumpkin seeds. Dot with thin slices of fresh mozzarella and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Update: The complete roundup can be found here!