Here are some pizza recipes I posted on my previous blog from January 2010 till February 2015.
Pizza Margherita
Pizza Margherita
How to make your
pizza at home
I usually
buy ready-made pizzas at the supermarket and bake them in the oven for 10-15
minutes. This is very handy on our busy
weekends, especially when friends and family crowd the house. But from time to time I like making my own
pizza at home.
Our
favourite pizza is Pizza Margherita (a name given in honour of the Queen
Margherita of Savoy). It is very simple
because for the topping you only need tomato sauce and mozzarella, but if the
ingredients are natural and well balanced it is the best.
Actually you
can top your pizza with whatever you like, from sliced mushrooms to ham,
prosciutto, vegetables, meat, sliced potatoes with rosemary and oregano
(another favourite one) and even fruit.
For the
dough for four people (3-4 pizzas) you need:
500 g of
strong white bread flour, 2 tsp of bread yeast, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tbsp of olive
oil, 300 ml of warm water.
In a large
bowl mix the flour, olive oil, salt and yeast.
Stir in the water and mix. Knead the dough for about ten minutes. Cover it with a damp tea towel and leave in a
warm place for 2-3 hours. It should
double in size.
In the
meantime prepare the tomato sauce in a pan, pouring two tbsp of olive oil, 500
g of tomato passata, one peeled, crushed clove of garlic and one tsp of salt,
oregano and basil. Add water if it is
too thick. Let it simmer for half an
hour at least.
When the
dough is ready divide it in three or four parts, rolling each part into a round
the size you like using a rolling pin.
Set them on a greased baking tray. Spread on some tomato sauce and a bit of olive
oil. Bake for ten minutes at 230°C. When almost ready, add plenty of grated
mozzarella, more oil and one or two leaves of basil. Bake for another five minutes.
Sometimes I
fancy smaller pizzas: we call them pizzette
and they are appetizing titbits. I make
them by cutting the rolled out dough into small rounds using the top of a
glass, then I season and bake them in the same way as Pizza Margherita. They are yummy!
Easter pizza
In my family
at Easter and in spring time we usually make different kinds of pizzas with
cheese and/or vegetable fillings, or in the shape of various breads. It is not a typical pizza with toppings, but
we use the pizza dough (or something similar) to make a sort of pie or mix it
with different kinds of cheese to make a specially tasty bread...but we still
call it pizza.
I am going
to post a few examples in the following weeks.
Here is the first one, a pizza we always make at Easter. My mother started the tradition, struggling a
bit at first with the rising stages but then it came out perfectly: a treat I
tasted again and again during my childhood and teens at Eastertime.
You need:
500 g of strong flour, 3 eggs, 250 ml of warm milk and water, 150 g of
parmigiano, 100 g of pecorino, 7 g of dry bread yeast and half a tsp of salt.
Mix the dry
yeast with 400 g of flour, add the warm milk and water mixture and knead the
dough. Let it rise in a warm place
covered by a damp tea towel for two hours.
In another bowl mix the ground parmigiano and pecorino with the eggs,
salt and the rest of the flour. Knead
both doughs together. Let the composite
dough rise again in a warm place covered by a damp teatowel for two more
hours. When the dough has risen put it
in a greased tin and bake for 45 minutes at 180° C. It is great with prosciutto, salami, ham and
boiled eggs: a typical Easter breakfast.
Pizza with
ricotta and salami
This pizza
is actually a sort of pie (or roulade: see below).
For the
dough you need: 500 g of self-rising flour, one tbsp of melted butter, 2 eggs,
half a tsp of salt, half a glass of warm water.
For the
filling you need: 250 g of ricotta, 100 g of mild cheese or cheddar, 100 g of
parmigiano, 2 eggs, 150 g of salami and salt and pepper.
Mix all the
ingredients for the dough and knead it.
Let it rest in a warm place for an hour covered with a tea towel.
Grate the
hard cheeses and mix them with the ricotta, the eggs and the salami cut into
small pieces. Add salt and pepper.
Roll out two
sheets of dough. Line a greased oven
tray with one of them, pour the filling in it and cover it with the other sheet
of dough. Alternatively you can roll out
only one sheet of dough, spread the filling on it and roll it up. Bake the pizza for 45 minutes (one hour for
the roulade type), 150° C.
Pizza with
ricotta and spinach
This is another
typical Spring-time pizza to enjoy on the lawn with friends and a glass of good
white wine.
For the dough
you need: 400 g of self-raising flour, 100 g of melted butter, 3 eggs, half a
tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of warm milk.
For the filling
you need: 500 g of cooked spinach, 500 g of ricotta, 3 eggs, nutmeg, salt,
pepper and 4 tbsp of grated parmigiano.
Mix all the
ingredients for the dough and let it rest in a warm place for one hour covered
with a tea towel.
In the meantime
mix the spinach with the ricotta, beaten eggs, nutmeg, salt, pepper and
parmigiano.
When the dough
is ready roll it out into two sheets, line a greased tin with one of them and
spread the ricotta and spinach mixture on it, then cover with the other sheet
of dough. Bake for 45 minutes at 150° C.
Pizza with
spinach
This is a
rather laborious method as it should be done using puff pastry. You can buy it ready made or have a go with
the following recipe.
For the puff
pastry you need two parts of dough:
·
first
part: 200 g of plain flour, 150 g of strong flour, 250 ml of cold water;
·
second
part: 75 g of flour, 250 g of butter cut in chunks.
Mix together
the ingredients of the second part, roll
the dough out between two sheets of baking paper and cool it in the fridge for
45 minutes.
Mix the
ingredients of the first part of the dough and roll it out. Cover it with the second part of the dough
and fold the first sheet of dough over the second. Roll it out. Fold the sheet of dough into three, forming a
dough three layers deep. Let it rest in
the fridge for 45 minutes wrapped in a sheet of baking paper. Roll it out and fold in three layers again,
then let it rest in the fridge for another 45 minutes. Repeat the procedure a third time. After the last time roll it out, fold it
into three layers and let it rest in the fridge for one hour. You can either use it straight away or freeze
it.
For the filling
you need: one kilo of cooked spinach, 50 g of anchovies, 2 tbsp of olive oil,
10 pitted green olives, 10 pitted black olives and one tbsp of capers.
Prepare the
puff pastry and let it rest. Boil the
spinach quickly in hot water with salt and strain it. Warm the oil in a frying pan and add the
anchovies, then the spinach and stir.
Let it simmer for a few minutes; chop the olives into pieces and add
them to the spinach together with the capers.
Stir, and simmer for ten minutes.
Halve the puff
pastry and roll out two sheets, line a greased baking tin with one of them,
pour the spinach mix onto it and cover it with the second sheet of pastry. Bake for 45 minutes at 150° C.
Pizza with
pancetta
This pizza
looks like a cake or a round loaf, ideal for a picnic or a party.
You need: 400 g
of strong flour, 2tbsp of olive oil, a glass of warm water (about 20 tbsp), 50
g of melted butter, 7 g of dried yeast, half a tbsp of salt, 3 tbsp of
parmigiano, 2 eggs and 200 g of diced pancetta or chopped sausage.
Mix the flour
with the oil, melted butter and yeast.
Add the water, salt, the eggs and parmigiano. Fry the pancetta or sausage and add to the
mixture. Knead it and let it rest in a warm place covered with a damp teatowel
for 2-3 hours. Then knead it again and
set it in a greased baking tin. Bake for
45 minutes, 150° C.
A treat for warm weekends...hopefully coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment