Without a shadow of a doubt, one of my most favourite foods, is pizza!

And, I don’t mean, the pizza from the local takeaway (except when it is essential in curing a hangover), I mean pure Italian pizza where the base is deliciously light and crispy.

My nephews adore pizza too and up to recently, I used to always order in, but of late, I have started making my own and it has gone down a treat.

I would recommend making the pizza dough the night before you want to use it as it is always better if it is left to rest over night.

And with the toppings – less is more! Of course, pick your favourites but don’t over load the pizza with toppings as the base is so delicious!

Ingredients –

800 grams of strong white flour

200 grams of semolina flour (can substitute for cream flour if needed)

2 * 7g packets of fast acting yeast

650mls of lukewarm water

1 tea spoon of sea salt

1 tablespoon of golden caster sugar

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Method –

• Sieve the strong flour and the semolina/cream flour onto a clean work surface and add the salt
• Once all sieved, make a well in the middle
• In a jug mix the water, yeast, sugar and oil and stir it and leave to sit for a few minutes
• Make a well in the flour and add the liquid
• With a spoon or fork begin drawing the flour on the outside to the inside and mix with the liquid – do what you can with this and then mix with your hands – put some flour on your hands so it is not too sticky initially
• Once the mixture is all together you should have a spongy dough which you can knead for a few minutes
• Put your dough into a floured bowl and cover with a damp t-towel and put in a warm room (the hot press) for 1 hour
• After one hour, your dough should have doubled in size
• Flour your work surface and knead your dough for a few minutes to “knock the air back”
• You can then wrap your pizza dough in cling film and refrigerate until you want to use it

When you want to use it, you will have enough for approx 6 pizza’s so cut out your portion size and roll out on a floured work surface into the pizza size you want.

When you have your sauce, toppings and mozzarella cheese on – pop on a pizza tray and put into a HOT oven – 250 degrees and cook for approx 8 minutes – you will see the base turn golden and the cheese will have melted.

Pour a nice chilled glass of Rosé and imagine yourself on the Amalfi Coast! Enjoy xxx.