Whenever we have pizza for dinner I always use Nigella's pizza base recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess for the ordinary pizza. It never fails and is really quick to rustle up (as long as you remember to start it early enough to give it an hour to rise!)
For the free fromers I used to make either a scone base using gluten & dairy free ingredients, or buy a free from pizza base from the supermarket. The latter was the easy option but if you've ever had to buy free from pizza bases then you will know the impossibility of getting them home without them breaking!
A couple of weeks ago, when pizza was on our menu, Calum (12) asked if I could try and find a recipe for pizza base that was more like the normal one we have. Thicker, softer, and more like a proper pizza.
I read through a few recipes online, looking for one that didn't have too many steps, or contain too many fancy ingredients! The best looking one I found was on the Doves Farm website and so I took that one and adapted it to make it dairy free too. I might even try it without the egg next time so that little Fraser can have a bite, but I am a bit concerned that might give it less rise.
The method couldn't be simpler. Just put all the dough ingredients in a food processor and blitz together.
Don't expect a dough like a traditional pizza dough though. This one is much wetter and there is no way you will be able to roll it out! I've included a photo below so that no one is alarmed when they see their 'dough'!
The toppings are up to you. I've just given our boys' favourite here.
And we don't use dairy free cheese substitute on top of our pizza as the boys don't like it. I can't blame them either as it smells nasty, and we have found you don't need it.
For the pizza base you will need:
250g Doves Farm Gluten Free White Bread Flour
1tsp quick yeast
1tbsp sugar
150ml water
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
For the tomato sauce you will need:
Tin chopped tomatoes
3 - 4 tablespoons tomato purée
3 - 4 tablespoons tomato ketchup (double check it is wheat free! Some brands are not)
Suggested toppings:
Sliced onions
Sliced peppers
Pepperonis
Handful of corn
- Put all of the pizza base ingredients into a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth mixture, almost like a batter.
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper then pour out your pizza base mix.
- Spread it into a roundish pizza shape.
- Bake, without any sauce or toppings, in a preheated oven at 180C for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix your three tomato ingredients together in a bowl. You won't need all of this mix for one pizza but if you aren't making more than one pizza then you can keep the rest in the fridge for something else. (I added the rest of our sauce to our bolognese a few nights later.)
- Take the pizza base out of the oven and spread on some tomato mix. You want to cover the base but don't put it on too thick or you will end up with a soggy base. About a third of the tomato mix should be fine.
- Arrange the rest of your chosen toppings on the pizza base and return to the oven to cook for another 15 minutes.
- With a normal pizza the cheese layer keeps the toppings from getting too crisp before the base is cooked so your final step is to cover the pizza with either a layer of greaseproof paper or tin foil then cook for another 10 minutes or so.
- Your pizza is ready when the edges have a lovely golden colour.
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