What ho you fellows. As you may have noticed, the ol’ blog’s had a bit of a facelift, some corrective surgery and a spot of liposuction, and here we all are, overwhelmed by the green and the shiny. There will be more posts, more often, and with less whacking great blocks of text – I figure I can spread out a four-recipe post over four days and make it look like I’m more productive than I actually am, without compromising my essential idleness – after all, with a title like the Idle Epicurean, you can’t be expecting too much.
After a stern talking to by someone who I’m this close to referring to as ‘my lovely assistant’, just because it would annoy her, I’ll try and keep you updated with my culinary gallivantings as I zoom hither and yon, sampling this and munching that. And if you’re really lucky, there may even be pictures…
But not today, because I didn’t take any when I was making…
Home-made Pizza
First things first: the base. I happen to own a breadmaker, not because I have the disposable income to buy these sorts of kitchen gadgets (a statement to be flatly contradicted in an upcoming post involving ice cream), but because I was lucky enough to find one in a charity shop for less than a tenner. For making pizza bases, I use one of those pre-blended bread mixes, the ciabatta kind, stick it in the breadmaker on the ‘dough setting’, and Bob turns up claiming to be my uncle.
If you don’t happen to own one of these luxury electronic doodads, a) buy one – they’re not that expensive, and fresh bread is definitely worth it – especially if you set it the night before to be ready for breakfast, or b) there are other options. You can buy ready-made pizza bases, which are almost invariably terrible, or ready-to-make dough mixes, which generally aren’t. Or you can make the dough properly, in which case good luck to you. Try the River Cottage Family Cookbook for a good from-scratch recipe.
Anyway, assuming you’ve picked your option and have your dough in front of you, roll it out on a well floured surface until it’s as thin as you can possibly make it without the whole thing falling apart. Transfer to a large, flat baking sheet, brush with olive oil and preheat the oven to 220C (200C for fan ovens).
The sauce: Easy as anything. You’ll need a tin of tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil, butter and half an onion at the very least.
Tomatoes in a saucepan, over a high heat. If they’re not chopped already, mash them with a fork.
Finely chop half a medium onion, add to the tomatoes, and season.
A dash of olive oil, a small knob of butter, and stir.
Boil the hell out of it for ten minutes, until the sauce has thickened and reduced by half. Let it cool a little while you get on with the real reason we’re all here – the pizza toppings.
The Cheese: The classic pizza cheese is of course mozzarella, but you need to be careful here – what you mostly see in the supermarkets is buffalo mozzarella, which is delicious in a tomato salad, but expensive and sod all good for pizza – it doesn’t spread as it melts, and it can also make the base and surrounding ingredients wet. This doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a pizza topping, just don’t rely on it as your main cheese.
Hunt instead for cow mozzarella, which is frowned upon by mozzarella purists, but makes a perfect melty, stringy topping. Most supermarkets stock at least one variety, usually huddled alongside other cheese refugees like halloumi. You can also get grated mozzarella, if you’re willing to shell out for it – I wouldn’t bother.
Simply dice the mozzarella, as much or as little as you like, and if you feel like it grate some parmesan to add to the cheese quota of your pizza.
The Rest: Well, you know what you like on pizza – have a ball. If you’re stuck for ideas, try finely diced chorizo, sliced peppers, mushrooms, thin rings of red onion, sweetcorn, olives, chunks of ham or chicken, spiced minced beef – the possibilities, as the feller said, are endless. I prefer my toppings on the small-chunks-and-fine-slices side of things, but as long as you keep everything roughly the same size, it’s up to you.
Assembly: Base, drizzled with olive oil (only a dash, you don’t want it to be greasy). Spread with the tomato sauce. Arrange your chosen toppings artfully, then scatter generously with cheese. Some people do the last two stages in reverse order – those people are misguided and we can only hope they will one day see reason.
A final sprinkling of oregano, and pop the whole thing in the oven, fairly high up, for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your base/chunkiness of toppings.
Re: shapes – if you can make your dough into a circle, and have the requisite baking sheet, then well done, you’re a better man than I. For the rest of us, the standard rectangular-amoeba shape will have to do. Enjoy.
<<So much for no big blocks of text. I tried, honestly.>>
