Italy- Pizza

A Little History:

Pizza is a traditional oven baked, flat bread created in Nepal in Italy and has become an icon of Italian cuisine. The word "Pizza" is derived from the Latin verb Pinsere, which means to press. There are many theories on how the pizza came to be. One of the most interesting is that the pizza was first made in 1889 by a chief who was ordered to make a dish for the Princess Margherita, he made three dishes with basil, tomato and mozzarella to represent the Italian flag. She enjoyed it so much the dish was named after her. 

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of strong white bread flour 
• 1/2 a teaspoon of dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• 145 milliliters of warm water
• 30 milliliters of olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons of passata
• anything you want to put on your pizza! (I put one ball of mozzarella, 8 pieces of parma ham and a handful of fresh basil)

  

Method:

1. Put the flour in the bowl and put the salt and yeast on different sides, sometimes the salt can kill the yeast or slow it down, then make a well in the middle of the bowl and pour in the liquid and mix with your hands until you get a soft but not sticky dough.

 

2. Knead the dough either by hand for ten minutes, or for five minutes in a mixer with the dough hook on. Then bring the dough together into a small flat ball and place on a large baking tray (which has been floured). Make the dough a flat as you can, leave to rise in a warm place for 40 minutes. Whilst this is rising preheat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade/ 425 degrees fahrenheit/ gas mark 7.

 

3. Once the dough has risen, roll it out into a round 30 cm circle, prick holes all over the dough. Spread the passata leave 2 centimeters from the edge, then add your toppings! Once you have all your toppings on the top drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes (I went half way and did 17 minutes!) until the pizza is golden brown.

Serve with a simple rocket salad, a glass of sparkling water and enjoy the feeling of being like an Italian mama!! This is really super yummy and easy to make, the best thing is it doesn't take long at all and you feel satisfied when you eat it. Its also great to make with kids as they can put anything on it, cheese, ham, pineapple, play dough and my little pony hair....... 

Next time Ill be going to Poland (so going back on myself, I know I said that in the last blog but I realized that I forgot Italy! how could I do that? That's where most of my favorite foods come from) and a top ten things I have to have in my kitchen (and some of the things on there are quite different!) Thanks for reading!!!!