The birth and growing up of a Panuozzo

This is simply a photo journal of the evolution of a Panuozzo from dough to plate.  Click on the first photo to open a bigger photo and a slide show viewer (click on the thumbnails below the main photo that opens)

Well risen pizza dough

Turn out onto well floured surface

Stretch out and shape into a 'Ciabatta' style

Pre heat your pizza stone to HOT!!

Slide your breads onto the stone.

After a few minutes, breads will start to puff up and brown.

When almost done, remove to worksurface

Split open and add pizza sauce

Add more pizza type toppings of your choice

Close over and slide back onto stone and bake until everything is hot and melted

When steaming hot, melted and cripsy - remove, cool
a bit then devour with a large glass of wine or 3

DOH!! Cream Cheese Pastry - Pastry for men...

This is a pastry for men who like it a bit more flaky but don't want to phaff about with light, fluffy, tender, shortcrust pastry that needs treating with girly gloves.  Don't use a rolling pin to roll it out, use an empty whisky bottle and smoke a cigar at the same time.
 

This makes enough pastry for a 10" pie, bottom and top.  If you only want a pastry case bottom, then adjust the numbers.You will need:

• 115g of unsalted butter at room temp
• 115g of cream cheese at room temp
• 60ml of double cream
• 180g of plain flour + a wee bit more for rolling pastry out
• 1/2 tsp of salt

 Put on some really loud, hardcore rock music and make sure your wall mounted Playboy Calendar is opened at Miss August and start making the pastry.

1.  Process the butter, cream cheese, and cream in a food processor, electric mixer, or by hand to thoroughly combine.

2.  Add the flour and salt. Process until just combined and the dough holds together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Divide into 2 equal lumps. Flatten slightly into disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out, longer is better. If the dough is chilled overnight, take it out 15 minutes before rolling out.

3.  Rub flour all over a rolling pin (or whisky bottle) in a manly fashion while looking at Miss August adoringly and winking.  Place one of the dough disks on a well-floured surface. Applying some pressure with the rolling pin, roll gently from the centre of the dough to the top and bottom edges. Rotate the disk and roll to the top and bottom edges again. Add more flour to the work surface and rolling pin, turn the dough over, and continue to roll the dough from the centre out to the edges. Turn over and roll again, rotating the disk to ensure even rolling until the dough is about 12 inches in diameter, thin but not transparent.  Repeat with the other other dough disk.

Use pastry as required and give Miss August one more manly wink before hiding her back in the drawer before you wife comes in.

Enjoy.

Pizza, Pizza, Panuozzo...???

Probably the most inspiring sandwich you'll ever make.  You cook the bread and the sandwich almost at the same time - could bread GET any fresher?  One of the best things about this sandwich is that it's hot so everything you put into it all comes together in one juicy, tasty, steaming, melting pile of deliciousness on a plate.  Best of all, it's simple. Once you've mastered the pizza dough, then making this is even easier than pulling a pizza base.

Make a Pizza Dough with 58% to 60% hydration.  i.e. 500g of flour to  290g to 300g of water.  500g of flour is enough to make 2 x 12inch breads.

Divide the dough into 2, put into tubs and leave to rest in the fridge overnight or up to 2 days.  Continue to follow the Pizza Dough instructions up to the point of doubling in size.  You will need to judge how cold or warm your kitchen is to figure out how long to leave them rising.  They need to rise SLOWLY so you want them somewhere less than room temperature for 6 to 10 hours.

Remember, they are starting out well chilled so it will take a couple of hours just for the yeasts to realise it's time they starting gorging themselves.  Be patient.

When your dough is good to go, put your pizza stone in the oven (preferably fan assisted) and fire it up to it's hottest and then when it reaches it's hottest, give it another 15 minutes to get the stone saturated with heat.  Or do what I do in good weather - fire up the wood fired oven and do it right :-)

Slide the dough onto the stone and let it cook until you see it puffing up and starting to go golden.  IT should take about 4 to 6 minutes depending on how hot your oven is.  It'll only take about 2 minutes in a WFO.  You need to get it out when it's only about 90% done.

Take it out and carefully (its full of scalding steam remember) cut it open along 3 sides and fold it open like a hot book.  Spread some pizza sauce on the open face of the bottom half, top with sauteed onions, ham, salami, cheese - basically anything you'd put on a pizza or a big sandwich - and then fold it closed.  Slide it back into the oven and continue cooking until the stuffing starts to sizzle and the cheese melts right through.  I sometimes like to cook mine until the dough start to blacken at the edges but I refrained for these photos.  Well cooked and crispy is just my preference.

Remove from the oven and put onto a plate or chopping board and allow to cool slightly.  The Panuozzo will be so hot inside that you will burn the skin of your mouth and I'm not insured so you can't sue me like you would McDonald's.  Ciao and Gustare.

PS - 'Panuozzo' is the Neapolitan for this pizza bread.  You might also see it called Panino di Gragnano or Pizza e Panuozzo.  Whatever it's called, I think it's a bit like a fresh made Ciabatta but only way better than anything you buy in a supermarket.  I'm still 'tinkering' with the recipe and the cooking method so I may post some more photos below later.

If you want grain, sew da bread. Sorry, SODA BREAD.

Quick, easy and hearty.  Soda bread, made slightly heartier for that winter lunchtime snack.  'Traditional' (yawn) recipes either use wholemeal or plain flour, but I had some other flours lying about so I decided to chunk up the dough a bit.

Soda Bread cooling on a wire rack.

I used:  (FYI - I nicked the basic recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and manned it up)

• 100g of Spelt Flour
• 100g of Granary Flour
• 250g of Strong White Flour
• 2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp of salt
• 300ml of cultured buttermilk (Sound weird?  You can buy this in most supermarkets.  In Sainsbury's it's near the cream and yoghurt section.  If you can't find it, use a live natural yoghurt instead.)
• 50ml of milk

Preheat oven to 200degC (fan 180).  You need the oven to be hot before the dough is ready as you want the dough straight in the oven as soon as it is mixed and the bicarb is still working away strongly.

Mix the flours (use any combination you want) with the salt and bicarbonate in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.  Pour the buttermilk into the well and then use the milk to rinse out the tub and add that to the bowl as well.  No point in wasting all the butterymilk goodness.

Using a spoon, stir the buttermilk and gradually work your way out into the four so that the flour starts to mix into the milk.  Keep doing this until it is mostly incorporated and then get one of your hands messy.  Clean the spoon off with one hand and then use that hand to finish mixing the dough until it is well mixed up.  If you need to add a little flour do it now and do it quickly.  You want a dough that is still slightly sticky without being wet.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue to kneed until well mixed, but do not over kneed this. A minute is more than enough for kneeding, less is better.  You are not looking for a smooth, elastic dough like for yeast bread.

Shape the dough into a rough round and put onto a floured baking sheet or like me, on a baking sheet covered with a silicone sheet that has been well floured.  (I use silicone sheets a lot).  Dust generously with flour and then with a long, sharp serrated knife, cut a cross in the dough to a depth of about half to 2/3 deep.

Put it right in the oven and cook for 40mins or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. underneath.  If it still sounds 'heavy' give it another 5 minutes.

When done, take it out and leave to cool slightly on a wire rack for a crunchy crust.  Eat while still warm with butter and jam or like me, with salted butter and strong cheese.  When it goes cold simply toast it and add even more butter.

Blondies. I'd call them 'Dumb Brownies but that's not PC.

Blondies - the lighter, less chocolatey version of Brownies, but even better with a cuppa good coffee.  VERY easy to make and hardly any washing up.  My kinda cake.

You will need:

• 115g of butter
• 100g of packed soft brown sugar (packed means straight from the bag, not loosened up)
• 2 Eggs
• 225g of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsps of baking powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 150g to 180g of good, dark chocolate chunks or broken squares.
• 75g of sliced almonds
• Handful of chopped walnuts or pistachios or...

How to make:
1.  Pre heat oven to 180degC (fan 160) and prepare (grease with butter and line the bottom) a baking pan about 10" square. 
2 - In a pot big enough to hold about 6 pints of water, melt the butter over a low heat until just melted.  Do not overheat the butter - you're about to add raw eggs and you don't want them to scramble.
3  - Add the sugar and eggs (take them out the shell first smarty)
4 - Stir through and then beat until well blended.
5 - Stir in the next 4 ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chunks and almonds.
6 - Spread mixture into prepared tin and evenly distribute.  Sprinkle with the nuts.
7 - Bake in centre of oven for 30 minutes or until the old toothpick comes out clean.
8 - Cool on wire rack and then cut into 16 squares (if using a 10 x 10 inch tin).
9 - Make a good cup of coffee and use to wash down 2 or 3 Blondies when cool enough to eat, but not cold.

Remove from tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

While cooling, make a good cuppa coffee and then cut into squares and eat a few while still warm.

A Carrot Cake, too 'carroty' for rabbits.

Carrot Cake.  A wee bit of planning and effort, but not too much.  Relatively easy to make and guaranteed to impress.  Add a glass of bubbly and you're in like Flynn, or Flynnetta.

It's a Carrot Cake - It's meant to taste good, not look pretty.  I don't do pretty, you can't eat pretty.

Read this recipe right through BEFORE attempting it.

You will need 2 x 9inch loose bottomed cake tins, lightly greased with butter and the bottoms lined with greaseproof paper.

For the Cake.

• 400g of plain flour
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of allspice
• 1/2 tsp of mixed spice
• 100g of soft brown sugar
• 100g of dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 200ml of vegetable oil
• 100g of carrot puree (boil carrots until soft and then blitz in a mini blender or mash through a sieve)
• 250g of coarsely grated carrot
• 100g of raisins or sultanas (I like to soak mine overnight in some brandy or rum or..)
• 150g of coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans)  Save 50g for topping the cake
• 100g of flaked almonds  Save 50g for topping the cake
• 75g of dessicated coconut
• 100g of chopped pineapple (rings or chunks, squeezed to get rid of a lot of the excess juice)
• Zest of an orange, some chopped candied orange peel or a tsp of good quality orange extract.  Whatever you have

For the Frosting/Icing/Covering and filling.

• 150g of unsalted butter at room temperature.  Hopefully your room is warm as the butter needs to be soft.
• 60g of icing sugar
• 300g of cream cheese
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180deg C or 160deg C for a fan oven.

1.  Put the sugars, eggs and vegetable oil into a large bowl and whisk until well mixed and sugar is mostly dissolved (at least no lumps).  Don't even think about using a hand whisk - use an electric beater. Start slow and then increase the speed as you get things mixing.
2.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt and spices to the sugar mixture and mix well until all incorporated.
3.  Add all the rest of the cake ingredients and mix well.
4.  Divide the mixture equally between the 2 prepared cake tins.
5.  Put both tins into the oven on the same shelf.  And if now is the time that you are cursing me because your oven is too wee - not my fault, you should have read the recipe through like I told you at the beginning.
6.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until cakes show signs of shrinking away from the edges of the tins and a toothpick comes out clean.  Yes, the old 'toothpick' trick, again.
7.  Remove cakes from oven and leave to cool slightly in the tins for about 10 minutes, then remove them with the loose bottoms and slide them onto a wire rack to cool further.  After a wee while, slide the cakes off the cake tin bottoms onto the wire rack to cool completely.  When fully cold (and not before), remove the greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cakes.
8.  While cakes are cooling, make the frosting.  Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth.
9.  Add the cream cheese and beat into butter mixture.  Make sure it is very smooth.
10.  Add the cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix them in well.  Leave in the fridge to firm up for a wee while.
11.  When the cakes are cold, top one of them with about half of the frosting, spread evenly across the cake.  Place the other half on top and cover the top of that one with the rest of the frosting, again spread evenly right to the edges.  Top the cake with the remaining nuts.  You DID remember to save 50g of each of the nuts like I told you to?
12.  Make a good cup of coffee, cut a slice of cake and take a break.  While you are relaxing, start planning who you will seduce into bed with this cake.  Probably the best cake in the world.  Oh wait a minute,for that to be true it might need a bit more alcohol in it next next time.

ENJOY!

Serving Suggestion :-)

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza - the big tops. Part Two.

Pizza Toppings part 2 - just for a feature of interest and a quick run through.  Well, really it was just to keep part one shorter so you didn't fall asleep.

Sauce, Truffle Oil, Red Pepper, Oregano, Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, Sautéed Onions, Grated Mozzarella, Anchovies, Capers, Black Olives, Salami and Garlic, Fresh Parmesan and Mushrooms.

Sauce, salami, cheese, garlic, olive oil - ready to go into the WFO.

Coming soon - how to cook pizza to perfection.

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza - the big tops. Part One.

Ok, now that you have your dough and your sauce made you're ready to go and build a pizza.  Be scared, be VERY scared as the pizzademons know you are coming and if you don't come prepared then they'll smack you.  So get prepared!  As chefs would say, get your Mise en Place ready to go, or as Anthony Bourdain calls it, his meez.  At this point, to help keep the pizzademons at bay, a large glass of whatever kind of (good) wine that will go with your master creation should be poured and put to one side within easy reach.  If you're not a wine drinker (become one before you get too much older) then a large, very cold glass of your favourite beer will do but you need to add 2 peeled cloves of garlic on a thread hanging round your neck as well.  Good Luck and Buona fortuna.

From this point on you you need to think like an old world Italian, better still like a 'Napoletano'.  If for some reason you came to this blog thinking 'deep pan' or 'Chicago style' then drink your beer, suck on the garlic gloves and get back on your horse now, cowboy.  This is old school pizza - you should haver figured that out a few posts ago when I asked you to spend so long making your own dough and sauce from scratch.  Did I ask you to buy a ready made, deep pan piece of carpet underlay and a jar of Dolmio pizza sauce - did I?  If you're still here and reading this then, PHEW!! at least we are still 'on the same page' and thinking about real, pizza.  The kind that Giuseppe makes all his life and that we want to make and get as close as we can to 'Verace Pizza Napoletana' or Authentic Naples Pizza.

Enough yakking, let's create a pizza.  First, some toppings for your meez.

Some toppings - I used these for the pizza stone pizzas (coming later).  Clockwise from L-R as best I can.  Mushrooms, garlic oil, oregano, capers, black olives, the sauce, grated mozzarella, anchovies, salami, fried chicken breast pieces.

Now, let's get your bases ready to go.  Take one of your dough balls and... well I've just thought of another step I might need to put in here - how to stretch your pizza dough,  Damn, that will have to come later and you'll have to bare with me for now.

Turn out your ball of dough onto a lightly floured, smooth work surface.  Sprinkle more flour on top of the ball and then use your finger tips to flatten the ball and push out to shape.  Using only your finger tips at this time, use a flattening/pushing action while at the same time rotating the dough to try and keep it roughly round.  Do not use a rolling pin, you will regret it - just don't do it.  Once your pizza base is about 8 inches or so diameter, it will become harder to get much more shaping out of it with just your fingertips.  Start to use the flat of your hands and push and twist the pizza to stretch and rotate it at the same time.  You really need to 'feel' this and you are aiming for an even, thin base across more than 10 inches of the base with a thicker edge to the dough about a half inch to an inch wide at most all the way around the pizza.  (Idiot guide - 10+ inches of thin base across the centre of the pizza and an average of a one inch 'border' will give you about a 12 inch pizza)

I like to put my bases onto those thin plastic chopping boards (you can buy them in supermarkets) for moving about the work area.  I like to prepare all my bases first and then add the toppings.  I usually prepare 4 bases and then allow them to rest a little while before using them.

Next, it's time to get creative and this is now up to you.  Add some sauce and spread it about the base from the centre out but leaving the thicker edge clear.  You only want enough sauce so that the base is thinly covered.  If you were to turn the base upside down then almost nothing would fall off, it's that well spread out.  Then add the toppings of your choice.  Again, less is better and please, generally not more than 2 or 3 main ingredients as the focal point for your pizza with some other 'flavour/texture' toppings.  The more toppings you pile on the linger they take to cook - and pizza should cook quickly.  You'll see what I mean later.

Chicken, mushroom, capers, black olives and cheese with a little garlic oil on to.  Ready to cook.

There you go, a pizza ready to go into the oven.  Cook until it's ready in the hottest oven you have.  On a pizza stone in a domestic oven or right on the hearth of a wood fired oven.  That and more, coming soon.

Double Cocolate Chip Muffins

A Muffin is a Muffin is a Muffin - but they come in endless variations.  Within reason, chuck in what you want.  In fact, screw reason - it's your muffin and your chance to create.  Go for it.

Here's my attempt at Double Choccy Chip.  'Double' because it's a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips in it.  Makes 6 large muffins, so you'll need a muffin tray with 6 cups each about 7.5cm across by 4cm deep.

• 240g of plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder (edit: try 2/3 tbsp - I found mine 'bloomed' a little bit too much)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 130g soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of cocoa powder
• 100g of butter (barely melted, not boiling - I thought I'd try this instead of rubbing it in)
• 1 egg
• 100ml (100g) of milk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract or vanilla extract, who cares as long as you like it (optional)
• 100g of chopped plain chocolate (not chocolate flavoured topping)

1 - Preheat the oven to 200degC (180 for fan oven).  Prepare your muffin tins by lightly greasing them (with butter), even if they are non-stick.

2 - In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cocoa powder.  Drizzle the melted butter quickly all over the flour mixture and stir in right away.
3 - In a small bowl, add the egg, milk and extract (if using) and lightly whisk together until combined.  Pour into the flour mixture and quickly mix through until all the flour is mixed in, but don't over mix.  STOP!! as soon as you see all the 'dryness' of the flour gone.  The mixture should be slightly lumpy.  Tip the chocolate bits into the mixture and fold through a bit.

4 - Divide the mixture equally between the 6 muffin cups.

Put into a preheated oven at 200degC (fan 180degC) and cook for about 25 to 30 mins until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remember that there is melted chocolate bits in there so it is 'free from muffin mix' you are looking for. If it comes out covered in chocolate, test another muffin.  Personally, I'd rather have a slightly undercooked, but moist muffin than an overcooked, dry one.  But that's just me.

Muffins Before Cooking

Muffins After Cooking

RAIN ALERT - Make Muffins to kill time.

It was pouring down, dull and miserable - just a typical day in Scotland really.  I had everything in the house I needed, so decided to make some muffins to go with the mug of coffee I was looking forward to after being dragged out by the dogs for an afternoon walk.  The muffins could cool while I was out getting soaked and freezing.

Enough to make 6 BIG muffins - enough to last 2 days, at most.  Make sure you have big muffin cups in your tray, 7.5cm wide x 4cm deep is about right, or make more, smaller ones.  It's not rocket science.

You will need:
>  250g of plain flour.
>  140g of sugar. Use simple granulated, castor, light brown, or whatever you have (not icing sugar)
>  1tbsp of baking powder.
>  3/4 tsp of salt.
>  120g of butter.
>  1 large egg.
>  100ml of milk.
>  1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.  I actually used 1/4 each of vanilla and orange, but you could add some almond if that's what you have.  I also sneaked in a half tsp of mixed spice - use what you want.
>  A big handful of 'fruity' stuff, about 150g should be enough.  I used halved glace cherries, raisins and some chopped candied peel.  Use what you have lying about.

Note - these are muffins, not some airyfairy, artyfarty, baked creation that needs to be measured down to fractions of a gram and cooked to the exact second.  Muffins are far more forgiving than most baked goods.

1 - Preheat the oven to 200degC (180 for fan oven).  Prepare your muffin tins by lightly greasing them (with butter), even if they are non-stick.
2 - In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3 - Cut the butter into small cubes roughly about 1cm or less.  Tip that into the flour mixture and rub in with your fingers until you get the proverbial breadcrumb resemblance - or use a 'pastry blender' if you like more washing up.
4 - In a small bowl, beat the egg, milk and extracts until blended.  Don't over beat so the eggs become fluffy - no point in doing any more elbow work than necessary.
5 - Pour egg mixture into flour mixture all in one go.  Stir the mixture until it is just mixed and all the 'dryness' of the flour has gone.  It should be lumpy and again, do not over mix.  Not only is it not necessary, but it also makes for denser, heavy muffins.
6 - Tip the fruity bits in and fold through until just mixed in.
7 - Spoon mixture into the prepared muffin cups.  For 6 muffins using similar size of pan mentioned above, each cup should be filled almost to the top.  Push any cherry bits into the mixture so they don't dry out or burn first.  If all goes well this should create a perfectly shaped muffin top - the kind you see hanging over jeans all too often :-)
8 - Put into oven and bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Tip - If using a non-fan oven I like to rotate tray 180degrees after about 15 minutes to get even cooking on the tops.
9 - Let cool a bit and then remove from tray.  Eat warm or cool on wire rack for a chewier top.
10 - You can zap one for 30 seconds in the microwave later, but regardless - Enjoy.

Steakhouse Burgers, and neigh messin' (sorry).

If food be the foundation of life then burgers are one of it's building blocks.  A good burger is the cornerstone of....  Ok, let's forget the 'building' analogies and get back to the Meat.

If you want a good burger or a great burger, and you don't want to have to pay through the nose for it or run the risk of being very disappointed by some so called Steakhouse (or Bar and Grill) chef's attempt, then you've just got to make it yourself.  It's the ONLY way to guarantee that what you are eating is what you want to be eating and that it will taste like you want and expect it to taste.
 Note:  If you even think about using shop bought mince then leave this website now - this is NOT for you.

There are MANY ways to make a burger and I'm sure there's more than one right way, but here's my way.  This is for Steakhouse burgers, which are thick and juicy.  We will cover the thinner 'diner type' burgers at another time.

First of all, start with some fatty, cheapish steaks.  These are shoulder steaks, but some steaks just won't work.  Rumps steak may be cheaper, but it has very little fat to talk of.  Ribeye and Sirloin are even better, but do you really want to grind up a good sirloin or ribeye for a burger?   Shoulder is a nice tasting piece of meat and just the right balance of lean to fat.  About 80% lean to 20% fat is about right.

In the beginning, steak - just steak.

First thing to remember when making your burgers is to keep the meat cold at all times.  You do not want the fat starting to warm up, rendering and spoiling your finished burger.

Cut the steaks into smaller 1inch chunks, something that will fit easily into your grinder/mincer, then grind it with the largest aperture for the coarsest mince.  Only pass the meat through the mincer one time.

Grind it up.

Catch it in a metal bowl that has been chilled in the fridge/freezer and as soon as you are done, cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge right away.  Now clean down your mincer and clear away your workspace - then have a cuppa coffee and a seat and dream of Burger Heaven.

Now you need to prepare your own 'secret' seasoning mix.  Here's mine and sorry, I'm not telling you yet, I hardly know you for Pete's sake.

Seasoning secrets and well chilled meat.

Sprinkle half the season over the meat and fold it through with a fork, but don't over mix the meat and cause it to lose texture.  Then sprinkle the second half over and then carefully mix through again.

Seasoned meat - note that it is still coarse and open textured

Quickly re-cover the bowl with cling film and chuck it back in the fridge for at least an hour or more.


(Update - Jan 10th 2016) TO BE CONTINUED!!

Pizza Pizza Pizza - Sauce

After creating a masterpiece of a base for your pizza, you need to lavish it with the best tomato sauce you can.  The sauce is the element that underpins the whole taste of the pizza and is also the bed that all the other ingredients rest upon.  It should be rich and flavoursome but simple enough not to overpower the class of the toppings you expect to put on it.

There is nothing fancy in a tomato sauce.  It can be as simple as just tomatoes but usually a little pepping up helps the overall depth of flavour.  Firstly, do not be shy or embarrassed about using tinned tomatoes - they are your best option when making sauces like this.  But, make sure you buy the best tinned tomatoes that you can.  Pizza enthusiast the world over agree that San Marzano tinned tomatoes are the best ones, but they are hard to find.  Me, I use Napolina chopped tomatoes and they have always worked well for me and they are available everywhere.  I use the chopped ones as they are the same price and they're getting mashed anyway so a lot of the work is already done.  Cirio are also good.

The Sauce.
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes (should make enough sauce for 4 pizzas)
1/4 tsp of fresh ground black pepper (or whatever suits your taste)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 to 1tsp of dried oregano

That is all you need to make a perfectly good tomato sauce.  Mix all the ingredients together, mash it down a bit with a fork or at potato masher - but do not blend or blitz it.  You will make it too smooth and most likely will crush all the bitter seeds.  You want a bit of a lumpy texture to this anyway.  Leave it in a covered dish in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours develop and that's it done.

Note - if you are cooking your pizza in a wood-fired over, then there is no real need to cook the sauce first as wood-fired ovens are so hot they cook the sauce on the pizza (but sometimes I do).  However, if you are cooking the pizza in a regular oven (on a pizza stone) then you may want to cook the sauce through.  This thickens it a bit as well.  Once cooked, put into a covered dish and let it sit to cool and then store in the fridge till required.

Optionally for the sauce you can add any of the following:
1 tbsp of fresh, torn up (not chopped) basil leaves
Some very finely chopped or grated garlic to taste
A large splash of red wine vinegar
1tbsp of good olive oil

There you have it.  Perfect pizza sauce without that store-bought stink you get from sauce in a jar.

Ciao and enjoy.

Coming soon - dressing a pizza and cooking them to perfection.  In the meantime, here's a sampler to get you in the mood :-)

Oatcakes, just oatcakes ma'am.

Simple, quick and better by a country mile than the shop bought pieces of cardboard you get.

Recipe 1.  Courtesy of, well actually stolen from, Colin at Bread in Fife.  This makes 9 oatcakes about 3" in diameter.

• 215g medium oatmeal
• 10g coarse or pinhead oatmeal
• 25g butter at room temperature or 20g olive oil (or sunflower oil)
• 4g salt
• 4g soft brown sugar, optional
• 100g of boiling water

Preheat your oven to 160degC and have a rack on the middle shelf.

Mix together all the dry ingredients, rub in the butter and then add the water and mix well.  If the mixture is very wet and sticky, leave to stand for a minute and then get to work.  The mixture should be wet but firm enough to make into balls without sticking to your hands.  However, if it is too dry you will have problems shaping your oatcakes.

100g of boiling water and the dry mix.

Take a large walnut sized ball of mixture (about 40g) and roll into a ball, then press flat.  Put it onto a dry, clean part of the worktop (no flour) and either roll out with a rolling pin, flatten with you hand or do as I do and place the dough scraper (the red thingy) on top and press flat while spinning the scraper.  The actual shape is far less important than an even thickness.  Use the side of the scraper to tidy up the edges and get rid of the 'raggedness' as these will just burn first and fall off if you don't.

Flatten and shape your oatcake.

 The oatcake WILL have stuck to the worktop so use the scraper to slide under and lift it off and place it on your baking tray.  The baking tray should be cold and not floured or greased.

Slide it off with the scraper.

Make all 9 oatcakes and once the tray is full, put them into the preheated oven for 40 minutes at 160degC.

Ready to bake.

DO NOT let them burn as they will taste horrible.  They are ready when they are firm and do not bend when you try to lift them.  To test if they are fully done, turn them over and if there is any 'softness' in the middle or you see what is obvious damp patches, then put those ones back in the oven for a couple more minutes, bottom side up.

Let them cool on a wire rack until cold and then tuck in either plain or with chunks of cheese, pickle and/or mustard.

Cool on a wire rack

The darker looking ones are my take on Colin's Cheesy Chilli ones.  Make and bake in the same way as for the plain oatcakes and here is my recipe (makes 6)

• 100g of medium oatmeal.
• 10g of olive oil
• 4g of salt
• 1 tsp of hot chilli powder (or smoked paprika I used this time)
• 1/2 tsp of onion powder
• 1/4 tsp of white pepper
• 4g of soft brown sugar
• 20g of very finely grated strong Scottish Cheddar
• 45g of boiling water

Mix all the dry ingredients, add the oil and mix through well.  Add the cheese and mix well then add the boiling water and mix very well.  Then continue as for first recipe.

Enjoy.

Pizza Pizza Pizza - Base

There's only one kind of pizza - a good one.  The rest are all crap and there is a lot of crap out there, a lot!  You must start with a good, fresh dough and to get a good dough, you really should start the day before.  Good dough cannot be rushed and it needs time to develop.  Would you build your house on a base of crap?  No, so please don't try and build your pizza on one.  Here's the recipe for the perfect pizza dough.  When making bread and pizza dough you need to be precise so measure everything by weight instead of volume.

For 'N' number of 200g pizza bases you need:
N x 125g of flour
N x 75g of water (60% hydration - some people like 65%)
N x 2.5g of salt
N x 0.25g of instant yeast (yes, that little)

For example, if you want to make 4 pizza you will need:
500g of flour
300g of water
10g of salt
1g of instant yeast.

People will argue until they are blue in the face about what type of flour to use and it is a matter of preference, but to get the best results you need a good quality flour.  If you can get Italian 00 grade flour (the same type they use for pasta) then use that, but a good stoneground, strong white flour also works well.  Supermarkets sell many different types these days.  Check the label for the protein content, the higher the better, but you re looking for 12 or 13% at least.  Best of all, experiment with different types and see how they cook out.

Making the dough:
Start the day ahead if possible but if not, as early in the day as possible for as late a cooking as possible.  There's no hard and fast rule, but try to allow at least 8hrs for rising and resting.  Resting being a very important part.  You can't stretch out a dough that hasn't rested enough as it'll keep springing back and drive you nuts.

You can mix all the ingredients by hand from scratch (the best way) or you can initially mix them all up in a mixer until they are combined, but stop as soon as they are - you do not want to heat the dough at all.  For the by-hand method, put the flour on a clean work surface, make a well in the middle, pour in all the water and then add the salt and yeast.  Gradually combine the flour into the water until it all comes together to form a ball.  Now you are at the same stage as if you used the mixer as above.  Kneed the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  The smoother the better, but you can give yourself a bit of leeway if you are going to let the dough rise for longer.

If you have made dough for 4 pizzas, divide the dough into 4 equal portions and form into a ball by rolling and tucking the dough under itself.  Put each ball into a lightly oiled tub that has a lid.  See photo -

Put the tubs into the fridge and rest over night.  Then next day, take them out of the fridge and let them rise for about 6hrs at 26degC or 8hrs at 15degC or somewhere in between.  Once it has roughly doubled in size, they it's ready to use.  Tip one out onto a floured surface then shape/stretch it out to the size you want and then it's good to go.  Do not kneed the dough first as this will 'toughen' it up again.  Handle it as little as possible and with TLC and you'll end up with a thin base, thicker edges and a base that will cook to perfection.

Follow up posts will include pizza sauce, pizza toppings and cooking pizzas.  Ciao!

If you want to get really into pizza, then see here for further info.
AVPN - Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana
AVPN - A PDF file with all you need to know.