Cakes & Bakes: Pizza

It’s pizza for this week’s Cakes & Bakes post. We’ve got a great pizzeria here in Todmorden – and we certainly can’t match their huge, wood fired oven… but we like to eat it in the house sometimes too!

There’s a very simple list of ingredients for the dough – flour, yeast, salt, olive oil, water.

With sub zero temperatures outside, the yeast mixture found the perfect place to come to life beside the fire.

The dough is simple to make and easy to work with.

Size and thickness is a matter of personal choice. In this house, Adelle has deep pan tendencies – Justin is a more thin & crispy kinda guy!

We rustled up a lovely tomato sauce. Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes & basil – cooked through, seasoned, reduced and strained.

This sauce was spread evenly over the pizza dough. Adelle then added roast aubergine, mozzarella and olives. Justin very similar, but he substituted Gruyère cheese for the mozzarella and also added red onion.

Both turned out very well – delicious in fact. We’ll continue experimenting with dough thickness, toppings and oven temperatures ’til we have absolute perfection!

If you have a garden, you can build your own wood fired pizza oven. You will make a unique pizza without leaving your home.

Easy pizza base

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Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 3 medium-sized pizza bases

Ingredients

2 tbsp fast acting yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
300 ml lukewarm water
500 g strong flour
½ tsp sea salt

Instructions

In a measuring jug mix the oil, lukewarm water, sugar and fast acting yeast
Leave in a warm place for 10 minutes for the yeast to begin foaming
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and salt and make a well in the middle
Add the yeast mixture and combine to a smooth, firm dough
On a floured work surface, knead the dough for 5 minutes and form into a ball
Put the ball into the large mixing bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to prove until it doubles in size - about an hour
Tip the dough back out on to the floured work surface, divide into 3 equal parts and flatten each into 1cm circles
Leave to rest for 15 minutes before adding toppings and cooking

Keyword pizza, pizza base

Quick panna cotta

This panna cotta recipe has a very good effort versus reward ratio – it’s quick, easy and utterly delicious.

We once read a great quote – “panna cotta is just blancmange with a fancy accent”. That’s kind of true, but panna cotta does sound better doesn’t it? It’s the perfect dessert, particularly if you have to make something at short notice – or if you’re super busy with other jobs – during Christmas week for example!!

You can eat it plain – but a quick fruit coulis, caramel sauce or chocolate shavings add a delicious extra dimension. For this batch we made a lovely topping from blackcurrants that we’d preserved in the summer. Honey can also be added to the cream mix which is a classic method in Italy.

Quick panna cotta

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Cook Time 10

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Servings 6

Ingredients

600 ml double cream
1 tsp Vege-gel or any other agar agar powder
50 g caster sugar

Instructions

Pour the double cream into a medium-sized saucepan
Before heating, add the Vege-gel/agar agar powder and combine well with a whisk
Add the sugar and heat on a medium flame stirring until the sugar has dissolved
Bring to simmering and pour into heat proof glass coups or bowls
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before covering with cling film/Saran wrap and putting into the fridge for at least 2 hours
Serve cold with fruit compote, preserve or coulis

Keyword panna cotta

Quick panna cotta

2017-06-21 18:51:35

Yields 6

Cook Time

10 min

Cook Time

10 min

Ingredients

600ml double cream
1tsp Vege-gel (or any other agar agar powder)
50g caster sugar

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Instructions

Pour the double cream into a medium-sized saucepan
Before heating, add the Vege-gel/agar agar powder and combine well with a whisk
Add the sugar and heat on a medium flame stirring until the sugar has dissolved
Bring to simmering and pour into heat proof glass coups or bowls
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before covering with cling film/Saran wrap and putting into the fridge for at least 2 hours
Serve cold with fruit compote, preserve or coulis

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World Dolls Series: Italy

We’ve crossed the border and travelled from Germany to Italy in the World Dolls Series – we’re certainly clocking up the miles! 🙂

The lovely illustrations are by Philippa Walters this time.

Our guides are Lisa & Pietro. They’re a cheery couple, always singing & dancing. Pietro with his guitar & Lisa with her tambourine.

We’ve spent the last few weeks watching the hard-hitting & brilliant Gomorrah on Sky TV – as you might imagine this is a more light-hearted view of Italy! We start in the North with its mountain scenery and work our way down to the hot & sunny South – taking in cities like Venice & Rome.

The pretty villages & harbours are much celebrated – along with the stunning countryside.

These narrow streets & steps are a classic scene that springs to mind when we think of the Mediterranean holidays that we’ve taken.

There are lots of processions & festivals too – and pretty whitewashed houses with painted shutters, ornate railings and flowers in pots. See, we told you it wasn’t Gomorrah.

Makes us want to pack a small rucksack and jump into a camper van. I’m sure they could do with a hand (or foot) for the grape treading.

Join us next time when we’ll be spending some time in Austria.