Pizza dough

Just a quickie this time. I was heading over to my friend's house for an evening of nattering and pizza. As we weren't eating until late, I decided to distract myself by making the dough myself.

Please excuse how blurred the picture is.
I just really wanted to eat...

I've done pizza dough before and it's one that I had pretty good results with even before starting college. Mostly because it's probably the easiest bread dough you can make. There were only 2 of us so 250g strong white bread flour went in a bowl with 7g fresh yeast (rubbed into the flour) and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 150ml lukewarm water and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil then went in the bowl and I brought it together into a dough, although it did need a bit of additional water to get it to the sticky stage that it need to be at. It then got kneaded for 10 minutes until silky smooth and elastic. I needed to travel with it and it was pretty small anyway, so I plopped it into my measuring jug and left it snuggled up to my wheat bag to double in size. This also involved a brief stint in my very cold car and another one with the warm wheat bag in the confined space of my friend's microwave (turned off, of course). Once doubled in size, I knocked it back and divided it into 2. Each piece got pushed, pulled and prodded to the desired shape. We'd decided to go with calzone rather than a straight pizza, so the filling was loaded on one half of the dough before the other side was folded over and the edge pinched together. They sat and waited while the oven preheated to the hottest temperature that it would do and then each little semi-circle got blasted for 10 minutes until beginning to brown. 


The verdict; much tastier than getting a takeaway.


Simplified recipe
Makes 2 pizzas
Ingredients
250g strong white bread flour
7g fresh yeast (or half a sachet of fast-action yeast)
1/2 teaspoon salt
150ml lukewarm water
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
Topping of your choice


Method

1. Put the flour, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl. If using fresh yeast, rub this into the flour with your fingertips. Do not put the salt straight in next to the yeast as this may kill the yeast
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the water and olive oil. Mix until it comes together as a sticky dough; you may need slightly more water or flour to achieve the correct consistency
3. Turn out on to a worktop (I left it un-floured but you can lightly flour it if you feel more comfortable kneading this way) and knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic
4. Place in a bowl and cover loosely. Leave to prove in a warm place until doubled in size
5. Once proved, turn the dough out onto a work surface (lightly floured or oiled) and knocked back lightly
6. Divide the dough into 2 and form each piece into the desired shape of pizza
7. Add your toppings of choice
8. Preheat the oven to the hottest temperature available (and, if possible, with the baking trays in that are going to take the pizzas). While the oven is preheating, let the pizza dough rise slightly again
9. Put the pizzas in the oven (if you've preheated your baking trays, slide them onto these. If you're less confident with that technique, like me, your pizza will already be on an oiled baking tray) and cook for 10 minutes or until the base begins to brown
10. Serve immediately

References 

The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake, Linda Collister, BBC Books, 2011