Homemade Pizza & Garlic Pizza

Garlic Pizza

 HOMEMADE PIZZA & GARLIC PIZZA

Hooray, it's Friday!  Tonight we had fun making home made pizzas.  These are a great way to involve kids in cooking and best of all everyone can add their own favourite toppings. These are so much better than frozen or shop bought pizzas as they have no preservatives and they taste absolutely great. Its also a great way to get kids to eat vegetables and use up any odd bits of ham, mushrooms and cheese etc.

TOP TIP:-  I would really recommend you invest in a pizza stone to bake the pizzas on. It helps to create that authentic stone baked texture and cooks the base from underneath so no soggy bits in the middle. Remember to place the stone in a cold oven then heat the oven - this will prevent the stone from cracking.  Make sure the stone is well heated before cooking the pizza on it.

I make my pizza dough in the bread maker but you could buy ready made bases or make a dough using bread flour, yeast, salt and water.

Whilst the dough is being prepared in the bread maker prepare your toppings.  Here are some ideas:-

Chopped peppers & onions.

Sliced ham, chorizo, cooked chicken, tuna, prawns (any meat or fish should be cooked first)

Sliced mushrooms.

Sweetcorn, pineapple.

Grated cheese.

For the tomato sauce:-

• 1 can tomatoes.
• Herbs of your choice.

Place the can of tomatoes in a saucepan and add herbs of your choice: oregano, basil & sage are all great with tomatoes.  If you fancy add a splash of Worcestershire sauce or chilli sauce. For a smooth texture whisk with a hand held blender.  Heat and allow to simmer on a medium heat for about 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced. Stir the sauce every few minutes to prevent it sticking to the pan.

For the garlic butter:-

• 20g - 50g butter at room temperature (depending on the size if your pizza).
• 1-2 cloves garlic.

Crush the garlic cloves with a garlic crusher (or finely chop).
Add to the butter and mix well.
Any left over garlic butter can be stored in the fridge for use another time.

Build your pizza:-

Roll out your pizza dough.
Spread the tomato sauce over the base.
Add toppings.
Bake in oven (on pre heated pizza stone) for 10 - 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the crust is lightly browned.

For the garlic pizza simply roll out the pizza dough and spread the garlic butter evenly as if buttering a slice of bread.
Bake as above.

Before baking

These pizzas may not be perfectly round but they are delicious!

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Hi, welcome to Countryside Cookery - a blog written by a busy working mum with a passion for cooking healthy tasty food, using locally sourced ingredients and minimal waste.

i.HiI will be sharing some of my favourite recipes, tips and ideas to make feeding your family easier  I bulk cook my meals and freeze them in family sized portions so that on busy days I can still feed my family a good healthy meal just by reheating! I love the idea of using locally sourced ingredients and turning them into delicious healthy recipes. I also have a pet hate of food waste and have a passion for turning left over food into healthy tasty meals. I grow lots of my own vegetables which is a great way to get the kids interested in vegetables which are so good for you.

Where possible I always buy meat from local farm shops or even direct from farmers. I rear my own pigs and I use every part of the pig in my cooking.  If you are lucky enough to be able to obtain a farm reared whole pig (or half a pig) always ask for the offal and head.  These can make some fantastic meals.  The best thing about rearing your own meat is that you know where it has come from and that there are no additives.

Although buying a pig or lamb from a local farmer may seem expensive at the time, if you calculate the amount of meat and meals you can make from this it really is cost effective. Also bear in mind this will be good quality meat and will not have been “fast reared” for supermarket needs.  Ask if you can have it butchered to suit your family so the joints are the right size for your needs, place in the freezer and use as you need it.  If this cannot be done cut the joints down to size yourself before placing in the freezer or use the leftovers for another meal.

My husband is a member of a local shooting synidcate so during the game season I have plenty of pheasants, pigeons and partridges many of which are frozen to keep me going all year round.  During the game season ask your local farmers or butchers if they can get you game.  If you can buy direct from a game keeper they can be very reasonably priced.

In my blog I will be giving you lots of ideas on how to make the most out of your food.