Pizza Primavera
| Published: 29th April 2008 19:34 |
Primavera means "Spring" in Italian. You can use whatever you like, just remember to cut the vegetables so that they cook evenly. I have tried the pizza with a tomato and cream cheese base; both work beautifully. I love pizza; it is one of the easiest foods to vary for fussy eaters. Children love to make their own combinations of toppings. Give them little dishes of each ingredient and a tomato-covered base and watch them create.
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
for the base
450g Strong bread flour
7g sachet Easy blend yeast (if you can use fresh, do so but for most of us packet is fine)
300ml warm water
1 tsp Caster sugar
½ tsp Sea salt
30ml Extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tsp Semolina (optional, it holds the pizza off the tray and absorbs any steam generated, giving the most wonderfully crispy base. I've also used Polenta and that works fine too.)
for the topping
1 Tin of Italian tomatoes
1 clove Garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp dried Oregano
2 Baby globe artichokes
½ Red onion, peeled and sliced
150g Broad beans
100g Peas
150g ball Buffalo Mozzarella
½ Yellow pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
4 slices Parma ham (optional)
Method
1. Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add in the yeast mixture and extra virgin olive oil. Mix together using your hands until you have a ball of dough. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and kneed for 5 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Place the dough back in the bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan heat a tbsp of olive oil and gently fry off the garlic until just golden, then add the tinned tomatoes and oregano. Reduce by half until you have a thick rich sauce. Cut the Artichokes into eight and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain. Preheat oven to 190oC
3. Turn out the risen dough on to a floured surface and kneed lightly for 1-2 minutes. Roll out the dough into a large circle or rectangle, (depending on your baking tray) until it is 4-3mm thick. Spread the semolina over a baking tray, and put the dough on top.
4. Spread the tomato sauce over the pizza base, for a more traditional pizza spread the sauce thinly so you can see the base through it. Now put your toppings on the pizza, mozzarella last.
5. Bake for 25 minutes until the mozzarella is melted and the base is crisp.
What do you think?
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