School Holidays!

[Christopher Schroeter]

 

Another first attempt.

This one is mine.

The kids rolled their own out and topped them as well. 2 out of 3 of them said they were the best pizzas they've ever tasted. The other is a sour faced teenager and he just grunted.

[sloth]

Good stuff. If you want a foolproof delicious foccaccia recipe I can put mine here, it always goes down well and is a world away from anything I ever got in a shop...

[Christopher Schroeter]

Yeah do it. I'm enjoying this. This is from a man whose cooking skills stopped at beans on toast.

[sloth]

Mine did too till a few years ago, generally I only do breads or pastries. Actual meals are my wife's realm, more than one saucepan and something will get burnt!

[Christopher Schroeter]

It's a bit like working in a science lab. I'm used to that. I can follow instructions and measure ingredients.

[agg221]

The closest my two got to cooking this holiday was marshmallows over the charcoal burn this evening. They were happy though, which is what counts.

 

Alec

[sloth]

500g strong white flour

0.5-1g salt (use less if you have salty toppings)

7g yeast (or whatever the packet says for 500g flour)

400g luke warm water

40g olive oil (or toasted sesame is tasty too)

A handful of fresh or dry herbs, and maybe some diced onions, fried (and then cooled, so you don't kill the yeast) if you can be arsed.

A clove or two of crushed garlic, more wouldn't hurt!

Whatever toppings you have

 

 

1. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the water and oil and mix well. It is supposed to be really wet. Either use dough hooks on a mixer for a few minutes, or stretch and fold it a few times. (Stretch and fold probably has a YouTube video - basically with a wet or oilly hand slide your fingers down the far side of the bowl, and stretch the dough up and fold it down towards you. Turn the bowl a quarter round, and repeat three more times. Leave 5 or 10mins, then repeat again. Easier to do than explain, but you should feel the dough have a bit more resistance and sag less each time you do it.)

2. When the dough has noticeably risen a bit, but not necessarily doubled (30ish mins) , generously rub olive oil all over a big flat baking tray, or two smaller ones. Don't worry about oily hands it'll help the next bit. Tip the dough onto the tray then give it one last stretch and fold, and then leave a few mins, to make the next step easier to do without tearing the dough.

3. Stretch the dough out to about a finger thick all over. Then leave for about 45-60mins, until it is two fingers thick and bubbly.

4. While waiting for the 'two fingers thick' stage chop your toppings and preheat the oven to 210*C.

5. Top it, then kind of poke it all over, pushing right down into the dough so most of the toppings are pushed in and its all dimpled - careful not pop all the bubbles though. Drizzle all over with more olive oil and herbs (fresh are much better) and cook for about 20-25mins until golden.

Enjoy...

 

I like lots of tomatoes, chunky courgettes, olives, mozzarella, rosemary, basil, pine nuts, sunflower hearts, thick onion rings, wilted spinach, sausage, chorizo ... Anything really, it's all tasty. I often use 300g white 200g strong wholemeal flour to give it a bit more flavour too, add an extra 40g water if you do though. You really can't go far wrong, just don't skimp on toppings and if possible use plenty of fresh herbs. Let us know how it goes...

[Christopher Schroeter]

Thanks for that. We'll definitely give it a try.

[sloth]

No worries, and just noticed that should be 5 - 10g salt, but too late to edit it...

[Christopher Schroeter]

 

This stuff is nicer than I thought.

Took a bottle off today to try as i was transferring it into another demijohn. The rest is going to clear for a couple more days and then I'm gonna bottle the rest. I'll tell you how strong it is in the morning!