#2 PIZZA PIZZA

Today was another lovely day. well other than these roadworks waking me up at seven for the past few days. I miss the seagulls in Cardiff.

I had a friend over tonight so I wanted to make something for her. and what's better and easier for a warm summer evening than some rustic mini-pizzas?

the thing with pizzas is that we're so used to buying them either at the restaurant or frozen that we don't even really think about making them ourselves. because why make something yourself when you got others making it for you?

well because it's just so much more fun to put on whatever you like! you don't have to take off the silly tomatoes or ask for extra olives. you can just be creative and do whatever you like.

and you know what? making pizza dough is not as difficult as you may think it is. so just give it a try.

I always use Jamie Oliver's recipe because it's simple and brilliant and it's got that special thing a pizza dough needs.

the sauce is not the most difficult thing, I like to pimp it a little bit so I use chopped tomatoes and add herbs and stuff, but if you don't want to do that you can simply by a pasta sauce and use that.

if you haven't got a whole day you can time it all perfectly and make the sauce while the dough is resting so you don't have to waste any time sitting around or making cake like I did. 

after making the sauce and leaving the dough to rest all you need to do is roll it flat and make the pizza the exact size you want. put your sauce on and the exact ingredients you want and put it in the oven (for about 10-15 minutes if the crust is thin) and you'll have the perfect pizza for you. yum!

Jamie Oliver's Pizza Dough
you'll want to use about 1/4 of what he uses.
I used about half and I have enough dough for tomorrow.

Simple Summer Pizza Sauce
1 can of chopped or pureed tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
tsp honey
rosemary, basil, thyme
salt

simply pour the tomato sauce in a pan and heat it up.
add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and the honey.
leave to simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

chop the herbs and add to the sauce along with the salt.
leave to simmer for about 2 more minutes.
if you've got pureed tomatoes then your sauce is ready now.
if you have pieces in there then you can puree it a little bit.
depending on how you want it on your pizza.
I like it with a few pieces, gives it some tomato-y taste.

you'll need about 2 tbsp for a mini-pizza.
probably 5 for a normal-size one.

mozzarella, cherry tomatoes,
fresh basil

"Pizza Mama"
mozzarella, cherry tomatoes,
ricotta, salami (add after baking),
fresh basil, oregano

mozzarella, courgette,
ricotta, fresh basil

Magdalena.