Friday Night Pizza Feast

Friday night always feels like it should involve chilling out, films, and no effort food (i.e. takeaway). The past two flats I've lived in have been minutes away from a Domino's (can't you tell I'm a student!) so it's the easiest thing to just pop in on a lazy evening (and my fiancé is always instantly won over by any offer posters they put up - no willpower whatsoever).

I always prefer making something my self though, and being part-Italian yet not being able to make pizza is something I needed to change. Anything breadmaking related has always been something I've avoided though, as it seems like it takes so much effort and never ends up how you wanted, but I couldn't resist trying this easy, scrummy looking pizza dough recipe from shutterbean.com (No Knead Pizza).

Trust me when I say how easy this recipe is - I love cooking but don't have enough time to spend in the kitchen for ages, and I'm getting into the habit of making this quite regularly now which is all the proof I need!

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Pizza!  

Pizza Dough Ingredients (adapted from shutterbean.com - which is why some of the amounts are a bit odd. The original uses American cup measurements which I've converted, and I've also halved the recipe)

Makes 2 pizzas, serving 2 hungry people

290g strong white bread flour
1 and 1/4 teaspoon fast action dried yeast
3/8 teaspoon salt
3/8 teaspoon sugar
170ml warm water
Olive oil (for trays)

-Place the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Give them a quick stir together.

-Add the water and stir into the dry ingredients using a spoon at first, then bringing it together with your hands until it's mixed together, giving it a bit of a knead too if you want, just to get it smooth. (You can even get away with out kneading this at all - judge it on how much stress relief you're in need of!)

-Cover the dough and leave to rise for a couple of hours at room temperature.

-Oil two baking trays.

-When the dough is nicely risen, cut it in half. Gently stretch the dough out slightly, and then place one half of dough onto each tray.    

 -Continue stretching the dough out until it almost covers the tray. You'll need to be patient with it as it tends to spring back. Patch up any holes and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.  

-Top the pizza with tomato sauce (see below) and anything else you fancy!   

-Bake for about 20 minutes at 240C/220C fan oven, keeping an eye on it, until the cheese is bubbling and golden and the edges are going crispy. 

Pizza Sauce (makes enough for 4 pizzas - I tend to freeze half, or it can be used as pasta sauce the day after)
5 or 6 sundried tomatoes, and oil from the jar
1 small onion
A 500g carton of passata

- Pour some of the oil from the sundried tomatoes into a sauce pan.

- Finely chop the onion. Add to the pan.

- Chop up a few of the tomatoes and add to the pan. 

 -Cover the pan and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, until the onions are softened. 

- Pour in the passata and simmer for 5 minutes or so until warmed through. 

- Set aside until ready to be used.

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