The best homemade Pizza ever!!!

         Pizza. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't like Pizzas :)

There's so much variety, types, flavours and toppings to choose from, anyone can enjoy a pizza! My family grew up eating lots of pizza's, they were consider a 'treat' on the weekends from the usual Vietnamese home cooking, and to date, Hawaiian is still my favourite pizza topping! hehe

Pizza's have come a long way for me, and though I still enjoy the occasion Domino's and Pizza Huts, I much prefer my own home made pizzas!

The pizza Dough and Tomato Sauce recipe below are Jamie Oliver's recipe, and they always turn out perfect for me everytime!

As for toppings, you can pretty much put anything you want on!!! But for me less is more, keep the flavours fresh and simple :)  

To make the Dough:

 








Ingredients (makes 4 large square pizza's)

500g plain flour
1/2 tbsp salt
1 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
1/2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
325ml lukewarm water

Sieve the flour and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit. Divide into 4 even size balls and start rolling out to desire thickness of pizza base.

To make Tomato Sauce

olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced,
a bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and torn
1 x 400g tins of good-quality, whole plum tomatoes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place a large non-stick frying pan on the heat and pour in few tablespoons of olive oil. Add the garlic, shake the pan around a bit and, once the garlic begins to colour lightly, add the basil and the tomatoes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes as much as you can.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes until slighty reduced and then your done. Strain through a sieve if you want to but I like chunky sauce.

As for toppings, This is one of my favourite toppings, if you are a lover of seafood, I think you will really enjoy this pizza topping, I call this my half half seafood!
You will need:

1 large squid tube, cleaned and slice to 1 cm thick (you can leave them as rings, but I like to cut the rings in half.
500g mussels, cleaned and debeard (you can use clams if you like)
a small jar of baby capers
fresh basil
500g mozzarella cheese (good quality)
100g of soft feta cheese
chilli flakes
Baby rocket leaves to serve (dress with a little olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper)

For the mussel dressing, add 2 cloves of mince garlic, 2 tablespoon each of white wine and olive oil.

TIPS: after rolling out your pizza base, par bake in q hot oven (highest setting) for a few minutes. This ensures the pizza base will not be soggy in the center from the juices of the cooked seafood and dressing.

To arrange your pizza, spread enough tomato sauce to the pizza base, top one side with squid, capers, chilli flakes. The other side should be the mussels slightly drizzled with the dressing. Top the whole pizza with chunks of mozzarella cheese and a small sprinkle of feta and fresh basil.

Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes until base and cheese is golden! Serve with rocket leaves and extra lemon wedges.

Enjoy your best homemade pizza's ever!!!

A few other topping combination I have tried which are also awesome:
-Bolognese pizza (make a simple bolognese meat sauce)
-Chilli salami, fresh tomatoes
-Slice sweet potatoes, eggplants, mushrooms, spanish onions and capsicums!!!
all topped with lots of mozzarella and chilli flakes : )

Happy Eating!
Fat Pom Pom