Pizza Margherita, Pizza Dough & Meatballs by Ray McVinnie

Ingredients

1/2 recipe pizza dough (see recipe)
200ml tomato sauce (see recipe)
Meatballs (see recipe)
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
200g Buffalo Mozzarella, thinly sliced
Perfect Italiano parmesan
basil leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 220C and place two pizza stones on the separate shelves. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a disc about 20cm in diameter. Spread half the cooked tomato sauce on each.

Arrange half the cherry tomatoes and half the mozzarella on each pizza. Grate over a little fresh Parmesan. Tear a few basil leaves and place on top.

Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone in the oven and cook 10 minutes or until well cooked.

Remove from the oven, garnish with extra fresh basil leaves if desired, and eat immediately.

Tips

- The pizza is named after Queen Margerhita of Savoy, made in honor of her visit to Pizzeria  Brandi in Naples, the pizza maker made a pizza with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella which represented the colours of the Italian flag.

- Give yourself plenty of time to make the pizza dough as the dough may be slow to rise.

- Add lukewarm water to the yeast, if the water is too hot the yeast will die but if too cold, it will not wake up and make the dough rise.

- In Naples they say a good pizza is digestible, you should be able to eat a whole one without feeling uncomfortable, so keep the dough thin and crisp and the topping simple

- To insure a perfect crust on a pizza at home, always use a pizza stone

Pizza Dough

250ml lukewarm water
1 tbsp dried yeast
1/2 tsp Homebrand sugar                          
400g Homebrand high grade flour
100g fine Italian semolina
1 tsp salt

Directions

Put the water into a mixing bowl and add the yeast and sugar. Let stand in a warm place until the yeast has dissolved and the mixture is frothy. Mix well.

Place the Homebrand flour, semolina and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and mix well. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic and place the dough in an olive-oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and place in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk. (About 40 minutes).

Tips

- Always add lukewarm water to the yeast. If the water is too hot the yeast will die but if too cold, it will not wake up and make the dough rise.

- If using an electric mixer use the dough hook, it will take care of the kneading.

- You can also use this pizza dough recipe for Foccacia.

- Don't worry if you have any dough leftover, it will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Meatballs

30g Prosciutto di Parma, minced
30g minced pork cheek or pork mince
20g spicy salami, minced
salt and pepper

Directions

Place all the minced meat in a bowl and mix together. Season, then roll the mixture into small balls by hand, approximately 2cm, and set aside.

Tips

- If you do not have a mincer, place the meatball ingredients a food processor and process until they are almost a paste.

- You can replace the salami with prosicutto