This is a very quick at-home recipe for making rosemary and mozzarella pizza
Ingredients
325 ml (1 1/3 cups) warm water
12 g active dried yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
500 g (4 cups) ‘00’ flour
1 tbsp fine sea salt
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp tomato passata (per pizza)
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper
Rosemary leaves
How to make
The first step is to combine two 7g packets of active dried yeast with 325ml of warm water plus 1 tbsp of sugar to feed the yeast
Give that a mix then allows to sit for a few minutes
You should see lots of bubbles start to form
If you don’t, your yeast is dead and I’d like to extend my deepest condolences.
Sift 500 g or 4 cups of 00 or pizza flour into a large bowl
Add about 1 tbsp of fine sea salt and gently mix with your hands making a well in the middle
Pour 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil into the well followed by the bubbly yeast mixture
Get your hands in there to mix the ingredients until a ball of dough forms
It’s a little messy but hey, that’s part of the fun
At this point remove the dough from the bowl and knead for about 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface
The dough should go from a shaggy, slightly sticky ball to one that is smooth and elastic
Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover, and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until it has roughly doubled in size
Now, this is my favorite part. Gently punch the dough down to release the air.
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 4 roughly even portions.
Take one portion and cover the others with a kitchen towel
On a lightly floured surface, gently press each portion into a circle roughly 25cm or 10 inches.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled oven-safe pan over medium heat
This part helps to get that crust perfectly cooked without a traditional pizza oven, a definite stroke of genius if you ask me!
After a few minutes of heat, you’ll notice the dough will start to puff up
At the point at about 2 tbsp of tomato paste (also know as tomato puree) then tear on about half
A ball of fresh mozzarella cheese. Finally, drizzle on a little more olive oil then place under the broiler in your oven for about 4 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is nice and crispy
Once done, add freshly cracked black pepper and some fresh rosemary leaves then serve immediately.
