Pizza!

For the passionate home cook, making pizza right in the corners of the kitchen is as easy as dialing the pizza delivery hotline number. Ofcourse, an ordinary pizza just won't do, it has to be something special, especially if its the first time!

The goal was to make an exotic thin crust pizza using some leftover ingredients in the fridge! Hence the output is not for the faint-hearted. Kids, please DO try this at home - it's yummy!

The pizza base is very simple -
1 cup pizza flour
8 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon active yeast
pinch of salt

Dissolve yeast in water, let stand for a couple of minutes, then mix into the flour and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. This can be done either by hand or by a mixer. Then knead for 5 minutes, or until smooth, and then roll into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm, and let rise until it has doubled its size. In this instance, after it has risen, it was punched down a bit, then rolled again into a ball and refrigerated.

The next day, the oven was pre-heated to 250C together with a rectangular baking sheet drizzled with a bit of oil. The aim was to have the oil sizzling hot so that when the dough is placed into it, it would help it crisp the underside.

While the oven and baking sheet were heating up, the dough was taken out of the fridge, and with a rolling pin, was shaped into a rectangle (that would fit the baking sheet, of course!). The tomato base was some leftover spicy salsa, and the toppings were composed of :

black pudding, available at Safeway, or at the butcher near you!

• black pudding - a type of sausage made of pork's blood mixed with other porky parts, onions, spices and barley. This is common in Europe, particularly in the UK and Ireland.
• leftover (cooked) chicken liver - chopped into smaller bits
• fresh rosemary (1 sprig), leaves torn away from the sprig
• sprinkling of red cracked chili, salt and pepper
• black olives and sundried tomatoes, chopped
• garlic shoots, chopped
• a good drizzling of extra virgin olive oil

When the tray is hot, take it out of the oven and carefully (because it is very elastic!) lay the dough on top of it. Evenly distribute the toppings and finish with the olive oil.

hold the anchovies!

Bake on the bottom part of the oven for 15 minutes (yes, it is THAT fast), until the dough is cooked and golden in the edges....

it was surprisingly nice!
makes 8 giant square slices of pizza

With a final garnish of chopped coriander leaves = 100% yum.

extra crisp edges... serve with a cold glass of beer!

Very pleased with the outcome of this particular experiment!