Pizza

I love making pizza, there is something so therapeutic about kneading the dough and it is the perfect meal for when you have lots of odd and sods that need using up. Indeed this evening I find myself with a glut of peppers, a few mushrooms and half a can of sweetcorn (has to be green giant, nothing else is welcome in my house, and not the no added sugar and salt stuff oh no no, proper original stuff). Anyway so chuck in a few extras from the supermarket and we have the makings of a really yummy dinner. For some reason it is a meal that lovely fiancé and I always make together which makes it all the more fun.

Home-made pizza (makes enough for 4 people person sized pizzas or two large pizzas)

To make the dough:

500g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting

½ tsp salt

1 7g sachet dried fast action yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

300ml warm water

For the topping:

Passata

mozzarella

A selection of the following or whatever you like: onions, mushrooms, peppers, ham, chorizo, cooked sausage chunks, olives, tomatoes, spinach, ricotta … use your imagination

Oregano and/ or basil

To finish

Basil oil or chilli oil if you like (see Flavoured oil entry)

Preheat your oven to its highest setting and pop in a baking tray to heat.

To make the dough mix the yeast and oil with the water, sieve the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre, pour in the water mixture. Give it all a good stir then sprinkle in the salt and knead everything together. Have a bit of fun kneading the dough and pretending you are one of those show-off pizza chefs tossing it around all over the place. Then roll it out to the desired size or if you are only wanting enough for one or two servings then the rest can be frozen in a freezer bag at this stage.

I like to give the base a couple of minutes in the oven without a topping to make sure it doesn't go soggy. Then you can get to work on assembling your pizza. Start with a thin layer of passata, then chuck on your desired ingredients before finishing with herbs and mozzarella. Pop him back in the oven and cook until golden at the edges and the cheese is melted, depending on how hot your oven goes this should take between six and ten minutes.

I like to serve with a sprinkling of basil or chilli oil.