semolina flour | Eat the Earth

homemade pizza

This morning started like any other Saturday, but my plans were quickly cut short. Whilst carrying out the dangerous job of…drying my hair…I experienced an excruciating spasm in my back, and was rendered unable to move and stuck lying on the floor for about an hour while N called NHS Direct. It was just common back pain, nothing more serious, but damn painful. I am now dosed up on painkillers and with strict instructions not to spend more than 4 hours in bed at a time…tonight I am psyching myself up for a night of DVD’s and late night TV.

Anyway, back to what I really wanted to talk about – THE best pizza ever. Sadly, I can’t take any of the credit for it, that goes 100% to N. N has been doing a lot recently, including DIY and studying for his masters. I decided that as the weekend was starting to stack up with DIY chores, that he needed some treats to get him through. I already knew what would be top of his list – beef and pizza. He’s been going on about making pizza since before Christmas, so I stocked up on some buffalo mozzarella, tinned cherry tomatoes, semolina flour and Parma ham.

summer tomatoes

Our favourite pizza recipe is from Jamie Olive’s Jamie’s Italy book. We especially enjoy the ‘fried pizzas’ which involves frying the pizza bases prior to baking in the oven. N finished early on a Friday so by the time I arrived home at 6pm he was already underway with the dough. Within the hour four beautiful silky pizza bases were resting on the worktop.

I whipped up some tomato sauce using a tin of cherry tomatoes, a couple of cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of honey. The sauce was spread over the bases, and topped with a mixture of that dreaded squeaky version of mozzarella (left over from a lasagne) grated, a couple of torn pieces of buffalo mozzarella, and some dried herbs. They were popped in a hot oven and when cooked topped of with some slivers of Parma ham. Of course, I am biased, but to me, these pizzas, made by the man I love are THE best pizzas.

a thing of beauty

Homemade Pizza

Makes 4 medium-sized pizzas

400g strong white bread flour
100g semolina flour
1/2 tbsp salt
7g dried yeast
1/2 tbsp golden caster sugar
approx. 325ml lukewarm water

In a large bowl mix the flours and salt, and make a well in the centre. To your warm water add the yeast and sugar and mix with a fork – leave for a few minutes.

Pour the yeast liquid into the well in the flour and using a fork slowly mix the flour into the liquid. It will start to look a bit like thick porridge. When the dough comes together and is too hard mix with the fork, use your hand and begin to form it into a ball.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until you have a smooth springy soft dough. Lightly flour the dough and wrap in clingfilm or cover with a bowl and leave for about 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into four pieces and roll them out on a floured surface. Once rolled out, leave them for up to half an hour before you want to cook them. If you’re going to stack them on top of each, to ensure they don’t stick together make sure you flour between them or lay a piece of foil or greaseproof paper between each base.

Preheat your oven to 250°C / gas mark 9. Place your bases on a baking tray and spread over your tomato sauce and add your cheese – we used a mixture of grated ‘plastic’ mozzarella and torn buffalo mozzarella. Bung in the super hot oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. Top with shreds of Parma ham, slice and eat.

This recipe is taken and slightly adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italy.