by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: December 29, 2008

Pizza, from its humble Italian beginnings, has risen to be quite probably the world's favourite fast food. The number of different toppings that are now put on pizzas is probably beyond calculation and almost any pizza parlour offers enough varieties to spoil even the pickiest people for choice. So why do so few people bake it or make it at home? Because it is so convenient to buy from one of the said parlours or pre-prepared from a supermarket? Possibly, but I believe the main reason is that most people don't realise how easy it is!

When considering making pizza at home, we first of all have to consider whether we are quite literally going to make it from scratch or buy the pizza bread already made and simply prepare the topping ourselves. For the purposes of this article, I will assume that we are doing the whole thing ourselves.

The first step is to make the dough fro the pizza bread. You will need:

3 fl oz warm water

4 oz white bread flour

1 level tsp dried yeast powder

2 tsp olive oil

Pinch of salt

Mix the flour, yeast, olive oil and salt well together in a large glass bowl and slowly add the water in stages to form the basic dough. Flour a work surface and put the dough on to it where you should knead it properly for about four or five minutes.

Place the dough in another large bowl (or the same one, washed out,) lightly oiled with olive oil, cover it with a slightly dampened cloth or tea towel and set it to rest in a warm place for a couple of hours. It should in this time roughly double in size.

While the pizza dough is resting, we should start our tomato sauce. Take two or three large tomatoes and make a "+" shaped cross in the top of each of them, deep enough only to pierce the skin. Put them in to a bowl and pour in enough boiling water to cover them. Leave them for about a minute before sitting the bowl under running cold water for another minute. This rapid expansion and contraction should loosen the skins and allow you to peel the tomatoes quite easily by hand.

Half the tomatoes, de-seed them and roughly chop them. Add them to a non-stick saucepan and gently heat. The moisture in the tomatoes will eliminate the need for any oil. Season lightly and simmer as gently as possible for at least an hour, stirring occasionally, until a lush, thick sauce has formed.

We now have to prepare what we intend as being the topping for our pizza. As previously mentioned, there are numerous ideas to choose from. Try some freshly chopped bell peppers, or some chicken, or ham and pineapple - go with whatever your own particular favourites happen to be.

Take the risen pizza dough and bash it in to a pizza shape on your floured surface before placing it in the tin for cooking. Spread on a thin coating of the tomato sauce you prepared earlier followed by your chosen topping. Bake in a hot oven, 450F/230C for about ten to twelve minutes or according to taste.

Don't fancy making the dough? Another delicious alternative to buying a pizza base is to use a round ciabatta Italian loaf. Cut it in half horizontally and you have two instant pizza bases, though remember to reduce your cooking time considerably and cook only for long enough to heat everything through.

I hope I have convinced you of how easy it is to make pizza at home and that you will now try it out for yourself.

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