Make your own! Homemade Pizza for Two

How to make pizza? During the current recession climate, everyone's watching their pennies and we are no exception. So we decided to have a homemade romantic evening together.
Ingredients for pizza base
400g Strong white flour
A packet of Fast Action yeast
250ml luke warm water to help the yeast
A couple grinds of salt
A drop of olive oil
A drop of milk

Toppings
Be creative, pick whatever takes you fancy and put them on the pizza. Enjoy your own creation! This is whatwe did.

100ml Tomato sauce (I bought a small tub of Tesco Bolognese sauce)
2 gloves of garlic, sliced (optional)
1 chilli, chopped (optional)

Mozzarella and Avocado Pizza
Mozzarella cheese
5 cherry tomatos
A handful of spinach
Half avocado, stoned and sliced
3 slices of parma hams

Spicy Veggie Pizza
Grated cheddar cheese, or of your choice
1 red chilli, sliced
Half an onion, quartered
Half a red pepper, diced
4 mushrooms, sliced
A quarter of a courgette, sliced


Step 1
Mix the flour, yeast and salt well. Gradually add the luke warm water and bring the mixture together. As it starts to bind, add a drop of oil and milk. Continue to bind until the outside is smooth.

If it's too slack, wet, add a bit more flour; if it's too dry, hard, add a bit more water.

Step 2
Cover the inside bowl and surface of dough with olive oil, to stop crust from forming when the dough starts to raise. Place the bowl in a warm part of the kitchen to help yeast action. (I put it on the shelf directly above a radiator) Leave for 2 to 3 hours to rise.

Step 3
The dough should have doubled in size. Poke the surface to let out some of the air. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and start kneading for a couple of minutes.

Cut the dough in two. Roll it flat (about 1-1.5cm thick) with a rolling pin (It doesn't really matter what shape it is, I think that's the beauty of homemade food) and place on a pizza tin, or just on a piece of foil. Leave it to rest until you sort out the toppings.

Step 4
Heating up the tomato sauce with garlic and chilli is optional. You can just spread a thin layer of tomato sauce straight on the pizza base.

Heat a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, after one minute put in the chopped garlic and chilli. Stir it a bit and add the tomato sauce until it just starts to bubble. Leave it aside to cool.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the pizza base. Make sure you don't put too much, or it'll go soggy.

Step 5
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree.
Now do your magic and place toppings on the pizza base in the style you like.

Step 6
Place the two pizzas in the oven and cook for 10-14 minutes.

Enjoy your homemade romance with a glass of good wine!

The Perfect Wine for Pizza

Where Italy comes to Australia from Premium Vineyards with a Wine for Pizza!

Totoiseshell Bay Shiraz/Barbera - South East Australia @ £5.99 per bottle

This is an intensely fruity wine, bursting with brambly Shiraz fruit, spice and herb notes. Barbera adds structure and freshness to the blend, which has soft tannins and a long clean finish.

When the sun goes down, let the wine warm you so you will settle down and sip some sunshine and pleasure with you Pizza!