FOODHomemade pizza is the ultimate family-friendly supper, but get going early with the dough, writes Domini Kemp.
PLENTY OF parents are guilty of it: making dinners for young kids, then scoffing the leftovers. Fishfingers used to be my Achilles heel, particularly when scooped up with creamy mashed spuds and buttery peas. But they haven't been seen in my freezer for years and, because of diminishing cod stocks, fishfingers have become politically incorrect, unless made with some undiscovered, yet plentiful white fish.
Still, when you have fussy junior eaters, it can be hard to cook one dish that works for everyone. A good home-made pizza happens to tick all the right boxes. I also don't know of a single kid who won't eat one, especially if they get involved in spooning on the tomato sauce and topping it with cheese.
I prefer to keep pizzas really plain, but if my daughter had her way, sweetcorn and pineapple would be compulsory toppings. Despite making her write out "tinned yellow pizza toppings are naff" 100 times (as said by Bart Simpson) she, like many other children, is oblivious to this culinary travesty.
This amount of pizza dough will serve four to six kids or two starving, drunken grown-ups. If you're a nice, demure bunch, it may be enough for a family of four (with the appetites of sparrows).
Pizza dough (allow two hours for rising)
1½ tsp dried yeast (which is equivalent to half a sachet of dried yeast)
Pinch of sugar
250g strong white flour (plain white flour is too "soft", it's fine for cakes, not dough)
½tsp salt
About 100ml warm water
50ml olive oil
In a small glass or cup, mix some warm water with the yeast and sugar. Leave for about 10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture, the olive oil and about half the water. Mix with a wooden spoon, and add enough water so that it turns into soft dough that's kind of sticky and wet.
Dump the blob onto a well-floured work surface, sprinkle with flour, then think of someone you dislike intensely and knead the hell out of the dough. You may need to continue adding sprinklings of flour until you work it enough so that the oil starts to do its magic and help it become satiny and elastic.
Give it a good 10 minutes of work, but only keep adding flour if it's too sticky and not leaving your hands clean when you knead it. By the time the dough is ready, you will be calm, Zen-like and full of love for sworn enemies.
Generously oil a large, clean bowl and put the dough into it, rolling it around so that the surface of the dough becomes coated in oil (which will stop it sticking to the bowl as it rises). People say you should leave dough in a warm place to rise, but true bakers will always say slower, cooler rising creates a better dough.
In reality, you're making pizza and I don't even insist on sifting the flour, so don't worry. Leave it out, somewhere warm if possible, cover it with a tea towel and leave for about an hour and a half, or until it has doubled in size.
Mamma Mia
I've listened to and read endless arguments about tomato sauces. The Italian grandmother of the great gourmand, Paolo Tullio, according to himself, would never sauté onions and garlic in olive oil and then add tinned tomatoes. She reckoned that by the end of the cooking time, you can taste neither the onions nor the garlic. She has a point, and who am I to argue with an Italian mamma?
Most people agree that sugar plays a big part, as does slow cooking and reduction so that the tomatoes become jammy rather than remaining watery.
Making a tomato or bolognese sauce is definitely enhanced when you chuck a Parmesan rind into the pot. It doesn't melt, but it imparts great flavour.
This tomato sauce is the essence of simple cooking to the point of being dull - but it tastes good.
Dead simple tomato sauce
This sauce makes a bit more than you need for the amount of pizza dough above, but the small amount of sauce leftover is lovely served with some penne, olive oil and loads of grated Parmesan and black pepper.
2 tins tomatoes (400g each)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons caster sugar
Salt, pepper
50ml olive oil
Put all the ingredients into a pot and simmer them slowly for 25-30 minutes. If you can throw in an old, rock-hard bit of ungrateable Parmesan, it will make your sauce taste even better.
Pizza Margherita
Preheat your oven to its hottest setting. To assemble the pizza, divide the dough into two pieces and flatten each one out into a circular mound and pat down with a rolling pin till it is flat enough to roll out as thin as you can. Slide the dough onto a flat baking tray, top with tomato sauce (not too much!), some slices of buffalo mozzarella (allow one drained 150g ball of mozzarella for each pizza) and some basil leaves.
Stick the pizza in the oven, which should be as hot as hell, and bake for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it, though, as the cooking time really will depend on how hot your oven gets.
Before serving, add a few fresh basil leaves and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Allow the pizza to settle for a minute before slicing and eating it.