Vegetarian mains
Wet garlic pizza
This margherita-style pizza with a wild garlic extra is a good, straightforward introduction to making you own pizza dough. Use as much or as little garlic as you like. If you don't use all the tomato sauce, freeze whatever you have leftover and use it as a base for pasta sauce. You could also add some wilted spinach or chopped ham to this, or crack an egg on top before baking in the oven. Turn it into a really child-friendly cooking project by making mini-pizzas and letting everyone choose their own toppings.
Ingredients
for the pizza dough
- 500g pasta flour (00 if you can get it)
- 7g instant dried yeast granules
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 300ml water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
for the topping
- 1x400g tin chopped tomatoes, blitzed with a hand held blender or in a food processor until smooth
- 1 stick wet garlic, finely shredded
- 2 large balls buffalo mozzarella (or use some of our small Laverstoke mozzarella balls), shredded
- olive oil, for drizzling
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Put the flour in a large bowl. Put the yeast and sugar on one side and the salt on the other.
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Step 2
Make a well in the middle of the flour. Pour in the water and oil. Stir to mix it all together, then use your hands to combine it into a soft dough. .
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Step 3
Remove it from the bowl and knead for 10 minutes, lightly oiling the work surface if it starts to stick. The dough should now be elastic and smooth.
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Step 4
Use a piece of kitchen paper to lightly oil the bowl. Form the dough into a ball, put it into the bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 4-6 hours; it should double in size.
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Step 5
Preheat oven to 230°C/Gas 8. Place a baking tray (or pizza stone if you have one) in the oven.
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Step 6
Knead the dough for 2 minutes, then divide in half. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stretch or roll out each piece to form a large thin round, (about 30cm across), it doesn't have to be too exact.
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Step 7
Place one pizza onto an upturned well-floured baking tray. Slide the pizza off the baking tray directly onto the heated baking tray or stone.
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Step 8
Quickly spread over just enough of the blended tomato to thinly cover, then sprinkle over some of the shredded garlic. Dot over the mozzarella.
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Step 9
Cook for 10 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Drizzle over a little olive oil and freshly ground black pepper to serve.
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Step 10
Repeat with the other pizza.
