Tuna, Rocket and Olive Pizza

 Pizza!

When I hear the word "pizza" in a takeaway I usually think of greasy lovely cheesy stuff piled on dough, but in Italian restaurants where everything is cooked fresh I have completely different connotations.  The best thing about making your own pizza is that you can make one healthy and authentic or indulgent... and it's cheap.  Also I hate it when pizza chains are stingy on the toppings, so this is a chance to have your perfect pizza!

This dough method was adapted from 'Sam Stern's Student Cookbook' (Walker Books, 2009)

Dough Ingredients:

450g strong white bread flour, 1tsp salt, 1tsp castor sugar, 2 x 7g satchets fast action dried yeast, 2tsp garlic granules, 300ml/ 1/2 pint warm water, 2 tbsp olive oil.

Dough Method:

1. Sift flour, salt into a large bowl.

2. Add sugar, yeast water, garlic and oil. (Do not use boiling water wait until it is warm.)

3. Work into a soft dough add more water if dry and more flour if dough is too sticky.

4. Knead dough on a flat surface for 25 - 30 minutes until soft and elastic. 

5. Put dough ball into a bowl and cover witha tea towel.

6. Leave dough to double in size in a warm place for an hour.

Saffy's Dough Tip's

1. Put on some music and knead the dough and create your own workout.  Kneading dough is great for your arms muscles.

2. Wet the tea towel and rinse to make it damp before you use it to cover the dough. Make sure that the dough is in a big bowl this is to ensure the wet tea towel does not touch it and the dough has room to rise.

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 jar tomato pasta sauce, 2 tbsp tomato pur'ee, 2 cloves crushed garlic, a handful of black olives, rocket, sliced mozarella, grated parmesan, olive oil to drizzle, 1 can of tuna chunks, red pepper.

This cooking method was adapted from 'Sam Stern's Student Cookbook' (Walker Books, 2009)

Method to cook pizza:

1. Mix garlic, pasta sauce and tomato puree into a bowl.

2. Pre-heat oven to 230 degrees C/ Gas 6.

3. Roll out the dough and leave to rise for roughly 10 minutes. (Sam suggest's to cover with a carrier bag).

4. Spread sauce over the dough.

5. Layer the pizza with the toppings, ending with a sprinkling of parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

6. Bake for 15 - 20 mins the base should be crispy, the dough should be soft and the top should be bubbling.

Saffy's Top Tip

Try sectioning the dough slightly with a knife and make four different toppings. This also helps if you are cooking for someone who prefers alternative toppings to yourself.