Is it just me or is pizza the most perfect food ever created by humanity? Few things go together better than dough, tomato sauce, cheese and basil. Maybe cake and frosting, nuts and chocolate, and lemon and cream cheese come close (am I dessert fixated or what!?).
I especially love pizza with strong-flavoured cheeses. Mozzerella is fantabulous as a basic pizza cheese, but adding a brie or goats cheese takes pizza to a whole new level. Here’s how! (makes one large pizza, simply double or triple quantities to feed more people)
For the pizza –
- 200g plain flour
- 7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
- pinch salt
- 1tbsp cornmeal
- 4tbsp olive oil
- 5tbsp hand hot water
- 3tbsp tomato pasta sauce or tomato puree
To make the dough, weigh your flour into a bowl and add the yeast and salt. Stir in your olive oil and enough water to get a dough going. Once the dough has come together, use your hands to gently knead it, either in the bowl or on a worksurface for a few minutes until the dough is springy and soft.
Let your dough rise for 45 minutes to an hour – in which time it should roughly double in size. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and oil a large flat baking tray with some olive oil. I also scatter cornmeal over the tray to give my pizza crust a crunchy exterior but that isn’t essential. If you’re interested though, you can get coarse corn meal in most health food shops.
Time for the toppings! These are the ones that I love…
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 55g goats cheese, cut into rounds
- 1/3 sliced red onion
- 1/2 sliced pepper
- 40g sliced mushrooms
- basil leaves
Load up your pizza and cook for around 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!
What’s your favourite pizza topping?
x Kerry
allaboutchantelle says
June 13, 2012 at 7:07 pmThis sounds great, pizza is definitely on my ‘to make’ list for the kitchen, but I am always so worried the dough will go wrong but your pizza looks delicious!
kerrycooks says
June 13, 2012 at 7:38 pmThanks Chantelle! Dough is actually surprisingly easy, as long as you remember to add the yeast (I have forgetten a few times!). Once you’ve done it once or twice you’ll think so too I’m sure!
Jorie says
June 13, 2012 at 3:16 pmPizza IS the most perfect food ever created! I could eat it every. single. day. My boyfriend is absolutely amazed how an adult human could want so much pizza. Bar none, it’s my favorite food. And like you, I adore goat cheese on my pizza! Glad to know there are other pizza-philes out there.
kerrycooks says
June 13, 2012 at 3:50 pmI really don’t see what he’s so amazed about – doesn’t everyone want to eat pizza at every meal? Breakfast pizza, lunch pizza, dinner pizza, dessert pizza…
Susannah Bianchi says
June 13, 2012 at 3:10 pmI was raised on pizza. My grandfather was a baker and made it every week for our Sunday supper. He made it in squares and he taught me that greasy pizza that you have to blot with your napkin means they used really cheap cheese.
My favorite, hmm, Pizza Margarita which has tons of fresh basil on the top of a very good mozzarella, and it’s real crispy. Now I know what I’m having for lunch.
Love your recipes.
kerrycooks says
June 13, 2012 at 3:33 pmArgghhhh that sounds amazing. As much as I love piling veggies on, the best pizza I ever had (in Rome) was just buffalo mozzerella, basil and tomato. I do think there’s something to be said for greasy cheap cheese though!
Thanks for your comment Susannah!
Jacqueline says
June 13, 2012 at 9:56 amI love the new look Kerry. Your blog is looking fab! You are a girl after my own heart those are exactly my favourite toppings for pizza, although I usually add feta rather than goats cheese, but nest time……
Jacqueline
Tinned Tomatoes
ps only adding the link cause wordpress hates me & refuses to tell people who I am.
kerrycooks says
June 13, 2012 at 10:55 amAw thanks Jacqueline! I do love feta cheese too!
makedospend says
June 13, 2012 at 9:31 amGoats cheese is a serious weakness of mine
I’ve never made a pizza completely from scratch, but this must change
Favourite toppings: red onion, mushroom, spinach, sweetcorn, roast veg, olives… I could go on!
– B
kerrycooks says
June 13, 2012 at 10:56 amYour favourite toppings sound exactly like mine! Maybe except Spinach…