Decided to push the boat out a bit and use real buffalo milk mozzarella from Campania - it melts and runs in a way which is incompatible somehow. However, it's a bit pricey and you could easily get away with a cow's milk mozzarella imitation for at least half the price.
I've tried to get back to the humble heart and soul of the traditional pizza here - a minimum of ingredients. No pineapple here, I'm afraid. Sorry.
Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3.75 zl (0.75 GBP, 0.90 Euros)
You'll need:
- 3 heaped tsp of sourdough starter in a cup of tepid water
- 400g ish of plain white flour
- 1 tsp each of salt and sugar
- a splash or two of olive oil
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- 1 clove of roughly chopped garlic
- salt to taste
- 250g of mozzarella (buffalo milk if you want to keep it real)
Let's cook!
1. Mix 3 good tsp of sourdough starter into a cup of tepid water
2. Mix the flour in a bowl with the salt and sugar
3. Mix in the sourdough starter water mix. Add some extra water if necessary to form a wettish dough.
4. Glug in some olive oil
5. Knead for around 10 minutes
6. Leave in a bowl overnight, covered.
7. Meanwhile, get the sauce ready! Start by top and tailing whole tinned tomatoes (you don't want the nasty bits on your pizza!). Then chop up finely.
8. Chop up the garlic and lightly fry in olive oil for a minute. Sort of half-cook it. Don't let it burn - that will ruin the taste.
9. Add the tomatoes and any remaining tomato juice from the tin and cook down for 5-10 minutes. Season with a little salt. Done!
10. ..... and the dough has been rising and rising and 10 hours later looks like this:
11. Divide up into smaller balls on well-floured surface.
12. Heat the oven up to max. Make sure whatever tray you'll be using for the pizza is in there as well. I prefer just the flat metal tray that comes with the oven.
13. Keeping the surface well-floured, roll out the dough into a rough circle, not too thick. Slightly prick the surface a few times with a fork.
14. When the oven's up to temperature, pull out the tray, put the base on it and transfer back to the oven for a minute or so. You see, traditionally pizza's are cooked for a minute or less at 500 degrees. You can't achieve those kind of temperatures at home so we need to cook the pizza in 2 stages. This first stage firms up the base a bit. If you miss this stage, you risk a soggy base. Flip it over after a minute just to see if it's firm. If so, proceed.
15. Add a little sauce, leaving the edges unsauced. Rip a little mozzarella over. Then back into the oven for around 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling away nicely.
16. Enjoy!
Costing:
- Mozzarella: 13 zl
- Tomatoes: 2 zl
- Flour and the rest: 1 zl
Total: 15 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 3.75 zl
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