Pizza!!!

Before

After

This was always on my I-have-to-add-that-recipe-ASAP list. Everyone who I went to high school with, I'm sure has had this pizza at least once as it is my mum's recipe. And the story of its creation goes something like this. My parents and baby sister (well, she's my older sister, but she happened to be a baby at the time) arrived in Australia on the 7th of May, 1975. The soon moved to the thriving metropolis of Coonabarabran (just kidding about the metropolis bit - there weren't even any traffic lights there) where they discovered that things that they had taken for granted in the USA, like Ketchup, fresh vegetables in the winter, and Pizza simply did not exist there. Necessity is the mother of invention, and so the pizza journey began. It evolved over many years to become the masterpiece that it is today. So the only other thing that I will say, is that you will REALLY benefit from making this using a pizza stone. And if you do that, you will need a pizza peel as well. The stone cooks the pizza from the bottom, making it more like a pizza that has been cooked in a pizza oven and makes the crust really nice. This is a weekend meal, mainly because it takes so long to make. It's not difficult at all, just time consuming.

CRUST
1 cup warm (not hot) water
2 1/4 tsp of dry yeast
OR
1 packet of yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
A pinch of salt

Dissolve the yeast in the water.
Mix together the flours and salt in a bowl. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. I use a mixer with dough hooks - its a lot faster, but you can also do the whole thing by hand. Combine the mixture until it all comes together and continue kneading with the dough hooks for about 5 minutes. You want the dough to be smooth and elastic, not sticky. Be prepared though, even using a mixer (unless you have a Kitchenaid or heavy-duty mixer like that) this will give your arm and shoulder a pretty good workout. Once you have achieved smooth elasticity, form the dough into a ball, coat in a bit of olive oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Make sure its a fairly big bowl though, because at this point you are going to leave it to rise until it has doubled in size. The amount of time this takes will vary depending on the temperature, but ideally it needs to be warm and moist. If its not warm, you can put a cup of water into your microwave and zap it on high for a minute. Then put the dough into the microwave and shut the door. DON"T TURN THE MICROWAVE ON THOUGH!!!
Once it has doubled in size, use your fist to punch it down. At this point you can make the pizza if you are pressed for time, but the crust will be nicer if you leave it to rise once more until it has again doubled in size.
Meanwhile, you can make the sauce.

SAUCE
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
1 x 170g tin of tomato paste
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried basil
pinch of black pepper

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, and remove the lid a bit, so that some of the steam can escape. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour, or until it has thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit.

ASSEMBLING THE PIZZAS
Preheat your oven to hot, and put your pizza stones in so that they can get nice and hot. Punch the twice risen dough down to get rid of all the air. Divide it into three equal sections (you can really make as many as you want, but 3 seems to work pretty well). On a floured surface, roll out each of the sections into circles until they are about 30cm in diameter. I find it easier to put the base onto a piece of foil that has been dusted with flour. This makes it easier to get in and out of the oven, at least for me, because I am sot so skilled with a pizza peel. Brush the base with about a tablespoon of olive oil, and spread with a few good handfuls of grated mozarella. Then put about a third of the sauce on top of the cheese and spread it evenly. I know, it seems weird to put the sauce on top of the cheese, but its really nice that way. If you think it is too weird, you can do it the other way around. I am no pizza nazi.
Load it up with whatever toppings you want - bocconcini, sundried tomatoes, roasted eggplant, pepperoni, whatever! I still think the best is a plain pizza, just mozarella and sauce with some fresh basil and oregano and some finely grated parmesan.
Put the pizza on the pizza stone in the oven for about 6 or 7 minutes, then check it, and rotate it if it seems to be cooking unevenly. Leave it in there for another 5 minutes or until the crust if golden and the bottom is cooked (you can lift up a corner and have a peek. Cooking times really depend on your oven, so its probably just best to keep an eye on it and approach it with a trial-and-error attitude the first few times, until you can figure out what works best.
Remove from the oven, cut into wedges and enjoy!