Homemade Pizza Recipe

I love pizza, but shop-bought and takeaway versions are usually full of fat, and the choice of toppings for vegetarians is often limited. With this homemade pizza, you can see exactly what goes into it, and you can choose to top it with whatever you like!

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 150 g Strong bread flour
• 0.5 tsp instant dried yeast 
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tbsp olive oil
• 100 ml passata
• small garlic clove, crushed
• 125 g ball of mozzarella, sliced
• 2 tsp of dried/fresh basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano 
• Topping suggestions: mushroom, tomato, onion, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, egg, sweetcorn, peas, artichoke, peppers, aubergine, olives, courgette, different types of cheese, vegetarian sausage.

Instructions

1. Put the flour into a large bowl and stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well, and poor in the olive oil and 100 ml of warm water. The water should be 'hand hot'. If it's too hot it will destroy the yeast and the dough will not rise. It should be cool enough that you can comfortably put your hand into it.
2. Bring the mixture together with a mixing spoon. Then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth. To knead, you repeat a cycle of drawing the sides into the centre, giving the dough a quarter turn, then pushing it away with the heel of your hand and drawing the sides in again. If you have a food processor, you can use the dough hook to knead the dough for you.
3. When smooth, transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, and cover with greased clingfilm or a wet towel. Leave to rise for 1-1.5 hours, depending on the room temperature (it will rise quicker in a warm room). Don't allow the dough to more than double in size.
4. Whilst the dough is rising, you can prepare your toppings. To make the tomato sauce, combine the passata with some crushed garlic and add half of the basil and oregano.
5. Knead the dough for a further 10 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 230° C/450°F/gas mark 8
7. Then roll the dough to a thickness of about 4mm (remember it will rise in the oven making it thicker). It takes some perseverance to roll the dough thin, as it will shrink back a little each time you roll it out.
8. Transfer the dough to a greased (or baking paper covered) baking sheet. Add the tomato sauce, making sure to leave a border.
9. Add the mozzarella slices, and other toppings of your choice. Sprinkle with the remaining basil and oregano.
10. Bake the pizza for 8-12 minutes, until crisp.

Tips

• If you'd like to make your pizza lower in fat, it's possible to buy half-fat mozzarella balls from most supermarkets.
• These days there's a lot of good vegan cheeses widely available in Supermarkets. Mozarella is the traditional topping but experiment with whatever you like best.