Pizza!

The basic dough recipe....

This is adapted from SmittenKitchen.com, who originally got it from Mario Batali. I use beer instead of wine because I think the bubbles do something - but that might just be in my imagination!!. And I usually part cook the dough without the toppings first. 6 tablespoons of warm water (might need a little bit more) 2 tablespoons of beer (you can use any kind of beer but the bubbles help) 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast 1/2 teaspoon of honey 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 1/2 cups flour A little bit of cornmeal for cooking (optional) and a little bit of flour for rollin out and kneading (not optional). 1. Whisk the beer, water and yeast in a bowl until yeast dissolves.2. Add the honey, salt and olive oil and stir. 3. Add the flour akeep mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands until it comes together as a dough. (If you need to, you can add a little more water)4. Flour the counter and knead the dough for two minutes5. Coat a medium sized bowl with olive oil, put the dough in, cover with cling film and leave it to rise for at least an hour. (It should double in size).You can prepare your toppings while it's rising.Preheat the oven to its highest temperature. Sprinkle baking sheet with cornmeal (to stop the dough sticking)Get the dough and use the palm of your hand to push all the air out. Form it into a ball and let it rest on a floured spot with plastic wrap over it. Leave it for another 15 minutes.Roll on the floured counter until thin thin, then lift it onto the baking sheet. You want to cook it for 10-12 minutes total. I usually bake it for about 5 minutes before adding the toppings and then add the toppings and continue cooking. It really depends if you need the toppings to cook a lot or not.Look at other pages for toppings and comment if you make your own!Sometimes I add garlic powder or herbs to the dough - try whatever you like!

Courgette/Zucchini

So this one I did before with Goats cheese but I didn't have any, so I just used some philadelphia cream cheese.I don't really measure toppings, so just do to taste!.Ingredients: Mozzarella (1 ball) Courgette (about half a big one) Lemon juice Chilli flakes Parmesan cheese Philadelphia cream cheese Bake the dough for 5 minutes. (as hot as your oven gets)While it's baking, slice the courgette in really thin rounds. Slice the mozzarella. Mix the cream cheese (or goats cheese) with a bit of lemon juice). Grate the parmesan (you don't need much because there's lots of other cheese).Take the base out of the oven. Spread the cream cheese (with lemon) on the base. Layer the courgetter and sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle with parmesan and chilli flakes.Put back in the oven for 5-7 minutes. (keep an eye on it). Take out, Leave for a minute, cut and enjoy.

Mushroom & Olive

So same as always, make the base like in the first page of the note and bake for 5 minutes before you add the toppings.I used Black olives, cut in half ( I used canned, but fresh ones would be awesome. I prefer them in half instead of chopped up really small) 3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. Mushrooms, slice and toss in olive oil Manchego cheese grated. (like always you can just use whatever cheese you have, but manchego is nice with olives - a little fiesta!) So, I actually put the garlic on some foil and roasted it in the oven while it was preheating because roasted garlic is the best food ever.After you bake the base for five minutes, add the toppings and cook for another 7 minutes. That's it!!!

Middle East Feast

Same drill as usual, but you might notice I usually do white pizzas - i'm not a huge tomato fan. So for this I use harissa paste which is a red spicy paste you can get in middle eastern stores, or maybe you could make your own.Ingredients Harissa Paste Pistachio nuts, chopped Halloumi Cheese, grated red onion, reallythinly sliced. Arugula/Rocket leaves and olive oil. The same as before, cook the base for about five minutes, then spread the harissa on, add the onion, hallomui and pistachio. put in the oven.Toss the rocket leaves in (just a timy bit of) olive oil, and put on the pizza when there's just a minute of cooking time left. well the ingredients aren't exact measurements but just to taste whatever you have in your house!