Express Pizza Dough

from Emily (who loves food)

While on Great Barrier I also made:
Chocolate Coconut Fudge
Mussels with Garlic and Spaghetti & Mussel Fritters

 

For when you want pizza NOW.

Sure, it’s not quite as good as letting the yeast activate, and the dough double in size, but honestly, sometimes you want dinner now, and not in ‘at least and hour’s time. As you’d probably expect, this recipe yields a slightly more floury, denser base (a bit like a scone in texture) but cover it in your favorite toppings and nobody will bat an eyelid.

For the past four days, Tom and I have been chilling at his family batch (holiday home) on Great Barrier Island. He has an amazing wee spot there, and luckily most of the days were sunny, and all were warm. I got a (tentative) swim in, lay in the sun, gathered mussels – look out for what we did with those babies later – and generally just got away from the christmassy press of Auckland.

We threw together these wee pizzas after we discovered there wasn’t enough standard flour to make my go-to yeast pizza dough. However, these was enough self-rasing flour to make this quick, easy version, which, in the end was probably a better idea. It meant we could eat them in the warm evening sun with some baby cos lettuce and a CC & dry. Fr0m where you wish you were.

Like any pizza dough, top it with whatever you like. As displayed here – the man’s pizza, with meat and cheese, and the girl’s pizza, with green stuff and less cheese.

expresspizza

 

Express Pizza Dough - Makes 2 small or one large pizza

Prep time: 10 mins  Cook time: 15-20mins

  • 1 cup + an additional 1/2 cup self-rasing flour
  • 1/2 cup body-temperature water
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • massive grind of salt and pepper

Line a cookie sheet with non-stick baking paper.

Preheat the oven to 180c, placing the cookie sheet inside to heat up with the oven, so it’s hot once the oven comes to temperature.

Combine 1 cup of self-rasing flour, water and oil in the bowl of a food processor or mixer fitted with the dough hook. Pulse or knead to combine into a soft ball shape, gradually adding the additional 1/2 cup of flour until you have a workable, slightly elastic ball of dough.

Remove it to a generously floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin, adding more flour when necessary to stop the dough from sticking. Make sure you can lift it easily (either by hand or with a spatula or similar).

Chuck on your favorite toppings.

Carefully move the pizza onto the hot cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until the crust is slightly golden. You can give it a wee turn under the grill if you want it crispy.

Eat immediately.

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