I love all things related to creativity. For me cooking is in this category. You can do the same core recipe with your own little twist and it is going to be unique. I live by that. And I can change up any recipe for a new craving craze (for me it’s spinach nowadays.. and garlic, lots of it! 😀 ) So now I’m attempting to give you the power of pizza!!
I know.. I know.. you read looooots of recipes and they are all the same and if you are not eating it in Italy it’s going to be lacking something. I completely agree with you! BUT! I’m experiencing a disturbance in the force every single time I do this recipe. Everyone goes crazy for it, it’s usually a party trick of mine, feeding all my guests with this, and they LOVE IT! 😀 And I’m interested if someone will try it or not. Please leave a comment if you do decide to give it a go. It’s a mixture of Jamie’s recipe with Genarro’s dough work and enthusiasm, wrapped in one with my little twists!
The Jamie recipe: https://thequirkandthecool.com/2018/05/16/jamie-oliver-pizza/
The Genarro tips and tricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SJGQ2HLp8
#itsafantastico 😀
Here’s my always working, very delicious, half healthy pizza recipe.
What you need: ( metric is the way to go for me, sorry )
Dough: /for 2 big pizzas, the thin type/
350g of ordinary white flour
150g of rye flour
2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
2,5g yeast or the regular 7g packet of dried yeast
325 ml warm water
0,5 tbs brown sugar
0,5 tbs salt
Dried herbs: oregano, basil, ground pepper
Sauce:
200 ml canned tomato paste
1 medium onion
2-3 garlic cloves ( more is more 😀 )
a pinch of sugar
Olive oil
Toppings of your choice
The Dough:
1.) Measure the 2 types of flour to a bowl of your choice. ( I tried to do the put it on the table and just pour the water into the flour method by Jamie, it never worked, and always created a mess!)
2.) Add 325 ml lukewarm/warm water to a huge mug, or bowl. The mug or bowl needs to be big enough that the yeast can raise in it, like a puffy and a bit ugly cloud. Add the 1 packet of dried yeast (7g) OR use fresh yeast; for us it comes in a 5g cube, we only need the half of that. And add the brown sugar and the olive oil to this mixture as well. Set aside.
3.) Add salt and dried herbs (for me it’s 1,5 teaspoon of basil and oregano and 2 twists of freshly ground pepper) to the flour mixture. This is the step I don’t see in other recipes. When you do this type of seasoning your dough will be delicious in its own as well, so the crust is very enjoyable even if there’s no toppings on it. Mix well and create a crater in the middle of it.
4.) Wait until your yeast looks something like this /1. picture/. Fluffy, big and full of energy! When this happens it’s ready. Pour half of it into the flour crater, than do the Jamie method, when you use a fork and in circular motion destroy the edge of the crater and work it into the watery yeast. If this is done and your dough is dry and floury mix in the rest of the yeast mix. You can work with the fork until the your dough is very put together and firm but still sticky /3. picture/. Now you have to get your hands dirty! Go in and work through the dough with your hand, check the Genarro video for the precise method 😀 Until you come to the consistency of the 4th picture.
5.) Now sprinkle it with flour and put your precious work to rest for like 1-1,5 hour under a blanket and leave it to double up in size. /your warm sugary yeast is eating away in your do, making it fluffy and huge!/ You can do this dough in advance and put it in the fridge just let it be out and about the same amount of time so it warms up and the yeast can wake up a bit. 🙂
The sauce:
We do not rest in this recipe! While your dough is having the time of its life, you should go ahead and do the tomato sauce for the pizza!
1.) Dice the onion into cubes, and dice the garlic as well. Put some olive oil in a pan or a cooking pot. When this is hot, put in the onion and leave on until it turns glassy and see-through-ish.
2.) Season it with salt, pepper, oregano and basil. (Use fresh basil if you can, and if you use it fresh, only add it at the very end of the cooking, otherwise it will lose most of its flavour.)
3.) Then put in the garlic leave it for like 20 seconds, don’t let it to burn because it will turn bitter.
4.) Use the 200ml of tomato paste (its like the compressed creamy but a bit bitter paste you can get anywhere. you can also use canned, peeled tomatoes.) and a splash of water, pour them in the pan. Now stir it up add a pinch of sugar and put it on low heat so it can develop the unified flavour of Italy 😀
5.) Cook it for 10-15 minutes and check if the seasoning is right. This amount of sauce is enough for the 2 pizzas because we only need a little for the taste of it.
Now you can leave it just chunky as it is, or you can put this in a blender and get a more creamy, unified sauce. I like to leave it chunky! 🙂
If the time has come and your dough is looking like it’s ready to take on the world, we move to the next phase!
Making the pizza:
1.) Preheat your oven to the maximum of the heat its capable of. For me I think it’s like 240 Celsius maybe, but I don’t have writings on it any more. Imagine, pizzas usually are baked in a wood fired oven, you cannot really change the heat in it, and by the time your toppings are done, the dough will be cooked through as well. So I think there’s no time to worry. (I only baked it in this temperature.. just FIY)
2.) If your dough is still a bit sticky add flour and roll it and work it as Genarro does here: …sec. You need to halve the dough for the 2 pizzas. I usually take the half of the dough like a ball and then it’s rushing against elements. You make a circle then hold it at the edge and your dough starts to go down with gravity, but you challenge it to a face off and never let it to achieve its goal! You just start to roll it around in your hand holding the edge. I know it sound difficult but the hard work is done by gravity.
(I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of this stage but my hand were full.. 🙂 )
3.) Then put it on a rolling sheet and roll it out to the shape your frying pan will be. For me this is the big rectangular one that comes with the oven. It’s a very forgiving dough, you can torture it and it bears, if it tears apart somewhere, just pinch a little from the edge and cover the hole. If you just try to pinch the hole together it will not work, do the patchwork method. I just tried to demonstrate the thickness of the rolled dough with my pinky. It’s like half a cm thick. Then roll it up on a rolling wood thingy /I don’t know the word for it/ and transfer it onto your backing-papered tray.
4.) Fold in the edges of the dough, this will stop the toppings and fluids to flood over the edges or the tray itself. /If i’m doing a “nothingmatters” type of pizza, I put cheese inside this edge. Like pizza hut./ If you have the edge, put on half of the sauce on the pizza base and lay it down nicely.
5.) Now it’s time for your toppings!! We did a chicken ham-pig ham- another pig ham and corn topping with cheese on top. I usually use “trappista” cheese, that’s like an easy to buy, non expensive cheese, but you can do it with mozzarella as well. I sometimes put some ground cheddar on top of the “trappista”, just a little bit, for the taste! 😉
You can vary the toppings and do it as low in calorie as you wish, I used spinach, broccoli, artichoke, mushroom.. Anything really, just watch out for the liquids in you toppings. If they are juicy like mushrooms put them on top of the cheese, so the fluids can evaporate and your pizza bread won’t be soggy.
6.) Last thing you need to do is prepare for the meal, it usually only needs 15 minutes in the oven, and then its heaven on earth.
/Then I do the next one, but if I’m feeling lazy I just put both of them in, it just takes a little bit more time. The golden rule is: when your toppings are cooked, your cheese is melted and sun-kissed and the bottom of the dough is stiff and crunchy ITS DONE!!!/
Here you go, my best kept secret recipe for amazing pizza!
Let me know if you tried and liked it!
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