Soho Pizza

Submitted by MarieRynr

"This is an excellent pizza,with a nice crisp crust and delicous flavour. Preparation time is the time to raise the dough, as well as the time to put it all together."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 20
• Yields: 2 pizzas

ingredients

• For the Dough

• 8 ounces plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 teaspoon golden brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon easy blend dried yeast
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• olive oil, for greasing
• peanut oil or sunflower oil, for brushing

• For the Fresh Tomato Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (400 g) can chopped Italian plum tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 dried bay leaf, torn into two pieces
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried oregano

• For the topping

• 8 black olives, stoned and halved
• 1 (150 g) package mozzarella cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• dried oregano, for sprinkling
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 1 cup fresh rocket
• 1 ounce parmesan cheese, shavings

directions

1. Sift the flour, sugar, yeast and salt into a large bowl.
2. Stir in 1/2 cup tepid water, micing first with a spoon and then with your hand, until everything comes together into a ball that comes cleanly away from the inside of the bowl.
3. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Rinse the bowl to remove any remnants of dough.
5. Dry it and sprinkle with a touch of flour, or rub a few drops olive oil around the inside.
6. Put in the dough, turning to coat evenly with flour or oil.
7. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to double in size in a warm place.
8. Heat the oil in a medium pan over the lowest possible heat and fry the onion and garlic, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, until softened but not browned.
9. Add the other sauce ingredients and season with 1/2 tsp salt and 10 grindings black pepper.
10. Stir everything together well and simmer uncovered on a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you have a thickish sauce.
11. Knock back the dough.
12. Divide in half and knead each ball until smooth.
13. Cover each with an upturned bowl and let rest for 10 to 20 minutes.
14. turn your oven on to the highest temperature it will go and slice in 2 shelves with a gap of about 7.
15. 5 cm between them.
16. (the pizza's don't rise) Lightly brush 2 large heavy baking sheets with oil.
17. Roll out each piece of dough on a floured surface to a 23 cm disk, knock off any excess flour underneath and place on baking sheets.
18. Cover each base with a quarter of the tomato sauce.
19. (freeze the rest for another time) Spread the sauce almost to the edge.
20. Dot with olives and diced mozzarella.
21. Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle it on top with salt, pepper, oregano and a drizzle of olive oil.
22. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, swapping the shelves at half time.
23. Remove from the oven, pile on the rocket and scatter over the parmesan.
24. Drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Reviews

[patti k.]

I really enjoyed this pizza - and the crust was wonderful! I made one large pizza instead of two small - it was just enough to fit on my baking stone. The flavors were quite nice as they were, but this pizza invites other additions as well. I will be sure to experiment. I tagged this for the bargain basement game because I thought it deserved some attention and I'm so glad I did! Thanks for posting.