Fast(ish) Pizza

We love home made pizza but making a proper yeast dough takes time, even in the breadmaker. My other half runs a cooking group at work but there's no time to make a "proper" dough, cook and eat within 2 hours. Somewhere on the internet she found an alternative recipe. In fact, it's similar to a recipe for a Flammkuchen base I brought back from my last visit in Germany. So lately, we've been making a lovely, crusty pizza base with baking powder. We like it so much we're having pizza once a week these days.

With regards to the topping, we use a "standard" method: drained chopped tomatoes out of a tin and sautéd vegetables. We vary the veg, the cheeses, the meats (see the picture legends for details). I do recommend using drained tinned tomatoes rather than tomato purée which IMHO is vile as a pizza "sauce". Plus, it goes black in those areas that aren't covered with topping.

The recipe below is from a couple of days ago. Feel free to get creative or check out the photos and captions at the end of this post, which I keep adding.

BTW, for two servings we use just 300 g of flour but roll it out very thinly so it still covers most of the tin.

Base:
400 g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt (the original recipe calls for 1 tsp of salt, which we find far too much)
2 tsp baking powder
150 ml water
olive oil for brushing

Topping:
1 tin of chopped tomatoes, drained of all the juice
freshly ground pepper
grated garlic
1/2 chili, deseeded
dried herbs (basil, oregano or Herbes de Provence)
1/2 courgette, cored and cut into strips
1/2 aubergine, cut into strips
1 pointed red pepper, cut into strips
1 bunch of spring onions, but into 4 cm pieces
1/2 chili, sliced
garlic, grated
freshly ground pepper
sea salt
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 mozzarella, cut into thin slices
1 kabanossi sausage, thinly sliced
parmesan shavings
olive oil

Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water until most of the water is absorbred. Then put on a floured worktop and knead until just workable and spreadable. This takes about 2 minutes. Add a little more water, if necessary, to achieve the desired consistency

Roll out on a floured surface and line your baking tray. Brush the dough with some olive oil to prevent the tomatoes from soaking in.

Sauté the courgette, aubergine, pepper, spring onion, garlic and chili in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes at a medium heat.

Mix the tomatoes, garlic and chili and season with pepper. Spread onto the base. Place the mozzarella slices on top of the tomatoes, then scatter the sautéd vegetables, kabanossi and sliced avocado over the mozzarella. Bake at 220 °C/gas mark 7 for 15 minutes. Scatter the parmesan over the top and bake for another 5 minutes.

Sautéd red onion and mushrooms, mozzarella slices and feta, chopped up cooked ham/ham sausage/Schinkenwurst, uncooked green asparagus, halved lengthways, drizzled with oil and seasoned with a touch of salt and pepper.

Sautéd red onion, pointed red and yellow peppers, salami slices (quartered), crumbled feta cheese.

Thinly spread tomato sauce, sautéd onion, red onion, red pointed pepper, quartered slices of salami-style chorizo, gorgonzola, fresh, finely chopped rosemary

Autumnal Filo Tart with Butternut Squash and Pear

I got the idea for this last year ago on a German blog and now that autumn's here again I'm finally trying it out as I love the combination of sweet and savoury. Unfortunately, I can't find ready-made pizza dough in British supermarkets so have resorted to filo pastry on several occasions. It's a little more work because every sheet has to be oiled but it's faster than making a yeast dough from scratch and really tasty. You can make this using hokaido or other seasonal pumpkins, I just find them too floury when baked. I think some rosemary sprigs would work really well with this, too.

1 packet of filo pastry
1/2 medium butternut squash
1 large or 2 small pears
1/2 red onion
200 g soured cream* or crème fraîche
50-60 g pancetta
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch of flat parsley
1 large garlic clove
extra virgin olive oil


1. Peel the butternut squash and onion and slice very thinly (2-3 mm). Cut the pancetta into small strips. Leave the pear for now.

2. Finely chop the parsley. Squeeze the garlic into the cream, season with pepper and salt, add the chopped parsley and mix.

3. Layer the filo pastry onto a baking sheet or pizza try oiling each layer, including any overhangs. I like to roll up the overhang giving it one last brush with the oil and enjoy its crispiness when cooked.

4. Spread on the cream and herb mix. Scatter the pumpkin, onion and about 2/3 of the pancetta over the top. Now, core and thinly slice the pear. Add with the remaining panchetta. Season and drizzle with a little olive oil.

 5. Bake at 200° C, gas mark 5 for 20-30 minutes until the squash is cooked.

*British soured cream has a higher fat content then, say, the soured cream available in Germany (10%). It doesn't state how much but it certainly has lots more calories and doesn't curdle when used like this.

Ciabatta Pizza

This is supposed to be a quick meal but somehow I never manage to cook anything quick :) though using a ciabatta does cut the preparation time considerably. If I make a pizza dough in the breadmaker, the process still takes 90 minutes. So here are some ideas for toppings - all of which I had at hand tonight. I actually didn't use a ciabatta but a home-made baguette, that's why there are three pieces.

Tomato sauce:
1 440ml tin of chopped tomatoes in thick juice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped (optional)
1tsp balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 bayleaf, fresh or dried, rolled up and fixed with a cocktail stick (this makes it easier to find in the sauce.



Topping Suggestions:
black olives
1 mozzarella, halved, then sliced
1 courgette, sliced and browned without oil in a non-stick pan
2 tomatoes, sliced and deseeded
sliced mushrooms
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 red pepper sliced
2 onions, sautéd with the following:
- freshly ground pepper
- fresh thyme (dried if fresh is not available)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 ciabatta, split lengthways

Preparation:
1. Tomato sauce
Heat the olive oil and add onion, garlic and red peppers (if used). Sauter until the veg is almost tender. Season with pepper. Add the tinned tomatoes, vinegar and bayleaf. Season with salt and simmer for 15-20 minutes over a lowish heat to infuse the sauce with all the flavours. Don't cover as this will cause condensation and prevent the sauce from being nice and dry. Set aside until ready to use.




2. Sautéd red onions
Heat a little olive oil and add the onions, garlic, thyme leaves and sauter over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Then cover and turn the heat down. Sweat until the onions are soft. If liquid has accumulated, take of the lid and turn up the heat until the liquid has evaporated. Set aside until ready to use.

3. Assembling your ciabatta pizza
Spread both ciabatta halves thickly with the tomato sauce. Put on a layer of mozzarella.

Top one half with the onions, chilli and a few black olives on top of and around the mozzarella.

Top the other half with a layer of all the other ingredients. Optionally drizzle the veggies with a tiny bit of oil and season with pepper.

Cook in a hot oven, approx. gas mark 7/220°C, until the cheese has melted and the raw veggies have browned. Serve immediately.



Variations:
1. Feta instead of mozzarella with sautéd red onions. The sweetness of the onions and the saltiness of the feta really complement each other.