Okay, so I’m sitting here at my computer feeling pretty guilty. After this post, you might be like this, because of a few reasons.
a) I haven’t posted a recipe since a BILLION YEARS AGO. Hello Miss Lazy Face, a.k.a me.
b) I’ve just put 29 photos into a post about pizza. So you’ve got to scroll quite a bit to get to the bottom of the post. Which we all know, is WHERE THE RECIPE IS (inside joke for old TWC readers)
c) There’s 29 photos. Of making pizza. I just ate and I’m hungry. You’ll be craving pizza by the end of this.
d) You’re about to get a pizza song stuck in your head, courtesy of this moi (which I learnt of from my brother and his friend. Thanks Jasper. Thanks Jack.).
I’ve listened to that too many times.
But I’m making up for it, because I’m making something everyone loves.
Cake?
Well not today, that’s not the relevant here.
{spoiler alert}
It’s Pizza!
The recipe is no-knead aaaand it has a 5 minute tomato sauce!
Did I mention I also made it on the barbecue??
The awesome John Lewis sent me a Weber Barbecue Pizza stone to try out, and omg
best pizza ever.
I love pizza that has quite a thin crust that’s crunchy and chewy, and it’s exactly what I got! I think it must be because of how much hotter the BBQ gets compared to the oven (espesh when it has a ridiculously hot stone inside of it).
Sweet potatoes?
PUT IT IN THE PIZZA
ZUCCHINI?
PUT IT IN THE PIZZA.
Close up, aww yeah.
I had to share the pizza love, obvs. So I invited a few of my gals round.
(p.s. Gals, I hope you don’t mind me putting your faces on my blog..)
Hope you forgive me, here’s a recipe (also it looks like a really long recipe but it’s just repetition at the end, tbh)
Makes 2 large or 4 medium pizzas.
For the Pizza dough:
I followed Jim Lahey’s No-Knead bread recipe, using whole wheat bread flour and 1 tsp of yeast. Recipe here.
For the tomato sauce (this is a super easy, no-cook sauce. Takes 5 mins):
1 (220g / 8 oz) can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 clove of garlic, crushed
For the toppings:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ thick coins
a handful of fresh basil, thyme and sage
1 large zucchini, peeled into ribbons (using a peeler or mandolin..)
1/4 a large red onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup basil pesto
a few fresh basil leaves
1 or 2 (125 g / 4.5 oz) ball(s) of fresh mozzarella, sliced
Indefinite amounts of: Parmigiano-Reggiano, olive oil, salt and pepper for seasoning + flour and cornmeal, for sprinkling
Make the pizza dough as instructed by Jim Lahey’s recipe – I just started mine in the morning and left it for the day (8-10 hours).
For the tomato sauce – blend all the sauce ingredients together either in a blender, food processor or with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Done! Set it aside.
For the sweet potatoes – place the coins of sweet potato onto a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and throw in some fresh thyme leaves, a few sage leaves and some basil. Roast in an oven preheated to 400F for 20-30 minutes until slightly browned.
To make the pizzas on a pizza stone:
Place the pizza stone onto a lit barbecue. Let it heat for about 30 minutes, getting the temperature up to between 400-450 F (200-230 C)
Take the round metal tray that comes with the stone, drizzle with olive oil and spread it around with your hands to cover the surface of the tray. Sprinkle evenly with cornmeal. Take a ball of dough, place it on the cornmeal-y tray and spread/ stretch it out with your hands. The medium balls of dough will stretch to 8-12″ in diameter, the large balls of dough will stretch to 12-14″ diameter easily. Ladle on a few tablespoons of tomato sauce and spread it out over the dough. Don’t DROWN the dough in sauce, OKAY? Arrange the toppings you want on the pizza. Drizzle with olive oil, grate over some of that Parmigiano-Reggiano, and season with salt and pepper. Place the tray onto the pizza stone, cover with the lid of the BBQ and bake for around 15 minutes, when the cheese has melted and is starting to brown.
To make the pizzas on a tray on the BBQ:
Light the barbecue and let it heat up so the temperature reaches between 400-450 F (200-230 C)
You’ll need two baking trays of the same size (the more heavy-duty, the better as metal can warp under high heat). Take one baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and spread it around with your hands to cover the surface of the tray. Sprinkle evenly with cornmeal. Take a ball of dough, place it on the cornmeal-y tray and spread/ stretch it out with your hands until it’s as thin as you want it and in whatever shape. Ladle on a few tablespoons of tomato sauce and spread it out over the dough. Don’t DROWN the dough in sauce, OKAY? Arrange the toppings you want on the pizza. Drizzle with olive oil, grate over some of that Parmigiano-Reggiano, and season with salt and pepper. Stack this tray on top of the second tray. It helps diffuse the heat a bit more to have stacked trays. Place the stacked trays onto the BBQ grate, cover with the lid of the BBQ and bake for around 10-15 minutes, when the cheese has melted and is starting to brown.
To make the pizzas in an oven:
You can also bake them in an oven at the highest heat C for around 20 minutes. If you have a pizza a stone, put that into the oven whilst it’s preheating for about 20 minutes, and slide the pizza onto it to bake. Make the pizza as described for how ‘to make the pizzas on a tray for the BBQ‘ (just above).