Homemade Pizza
Healthy Options
Homemade Pizza offers endless possibilities when it comes to flavour and of course it’s much healthier and avoids the highly processed shop bought offerings. Another health study published this week revealed the dangers of eating too much of what it called ‘ultra processed food’. And, although it’s by no means a conclusive study, there is plenty of evidence that shows a healthy lifestyle, eating what I call real food rather than large amounts of processed and convenience foods, is, undoubtedly better for our health and will reduce the likelihood of developing certain illnesses, including T2 diabetes or becoming obese
Making homemade pizza doesn’t require too much planning and its easy to get ahead by having the base sauce made in advance. The sauce I use doesn’t require any cooking and we’ve always found it very tasty. if you’re super organised make a double batch and freeze some for another day.
Chose your Ingredients
Making pizza can be be a fun activity and it gets everyone cooking together. I prep a load of tomatoes, red onions, courgettes, mushrooms, sweetcorn, olives, chillies and offer these with mozzarella, goats or feta cheeses, along with pepperoni, salami or parma ham. I prefer a vegetarian or a smoked salmon pizza but the beauty of making your own is that each person can chose their own favourite toppings. These are the ingredients my family like but homemade pizza is just as tasty with tomato and cheese and maybe some added vegetables or salad to suit your own budget and ingredients.
Smoked Salmon Pizza is one of my favourites.
- 250 ml passata
- 300 g strong white bread flour
- 150 g strong wholemeal bread flour
- 1.5 tsp instant yeast
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- approx 300 ml warm water
- Mix the ingredients together and if using within an hour, leave to infuse at room temperature. Otherwise store in the fridge until ready to use.
- Pre heat the oven to 240C Fan 220C Gas 8
- To mix the base ingredients I use the dough hook attachment on my food mixer or food processor but it can easily be mixed by hand. Put the flours in a large bowl and add the yeast and the salt. Don't add these together as the salt will kill the yeast. I add to opposite sides of the bowl. Make a well and pour in the water and olive oiland bring together until you have a slightly wet dough. If using a food mixer this will only take a few minutes, otherwise turn onto a lightly floured dough and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly springy. Cover with a tea towel and leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes until smooth and slightly springy. Divide into 4 rounds, roll out thinly and carefully place onto floured baking sheets.
- Use the back of a spoon to spread the sauce over the pizza bases. Add the grated & sliced mozzarella and finish with any additional toppings. Drizzle with olive oil and season.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until the base is crisp.
- Scatter over the basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil and serve.
I’ve added this recipe to the blog link up, Recipe of the Week on A Mummy Too
