John Torode's cheat pizzas
John joins us again live from his kitchen to show us how to make an easy cheat's pizza for the family.
Ingredients
For the simple tomato sauce (great for pizza and pasta)
50ml olive oil
1 onion diced
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tin of tomatoes ( or 400g fresh over ripe tomatoes)
Tip: the secret to this is to buy good quality very ripe and soft tomatoes or good quality tinned tomatoes.
For the pizza dough
50ml warm water
200g thick yoghurt
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
20ml olive oil
Good pinch of salt
For the Bianco topping
200ml crème fraîche
300g mozzarella
200g thinly sliced parma ham
Use your choice of toppings - here’s a few suggestions
Grated cheese
Mozzarella
Fresh chorizo
Tinned artichokes
Olives
Pepperoni
Mushrooms, sliced
Ham and pineapple
Parma ham
The list is endless, you can even top your pizza with chilli con carne or Bolognese sauce
Method
For the simple tomato sauce: In a heavy based pan heat the oil over a moderate heat. Add the onion, stirring constantly, cook for 3 minutes, add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a good 2 minutes stirring as much as possible
For the pizza dough: Mix together the water, yoghurt and the salt with the olive oil, mix the flour with the baking powder, now add it to the yoghurt and stir well so it becomes a dough, knead it just a tiny bit, divide into 4 even sized balls, and leave to sit for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to the highest temperature possible
Place the tray you are going to bake the pizza on into the oven to get it very hot
With a well floured rolling pin, flatten each ball and roll out as thin as possible. Once the dough is rolled out to as thin as possible, take the tray from the oven and dust with a little flour.
Place the rolled out dough on top and cook for 4 minutes, Take the half cooked dough from the oven and turn over so the bottom becomes the top, this means you will not have a soggy pizza!
For a tomato based pizza: Smear over the simple tomato sauce and then tear over a ball of mozzarella and scatter it over your choice of toppings - some meat and a few olives, maybe an artichoke and then sprinkle with cheese. Or just do tomato, ham and pineapple. Or let the children make their own creations! The secret to a great pizza is not too much on top, so keep the ingredients to a minimum. Slide it back onto the top shelf of your very hot oven - the highest setting, and cook for about 5-8 minutes.
For the pizza bianco: Smear over some crème fraîche then tear over a ball of mozzarella and scatter it over the pizza. Slide it onto the top shelf of your very hot oven - the highest setting, and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Once cooked top with sliced Parma Ham.