King Prawn & Goats Cheese Pizza

FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH:
320g Strong white flour
10g Fast acting dried yeast (I use Doves Farm)
10g Salt
50g Olive oil
320g Water at room temperature
Semolina for the base and a baking sheet

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tbsp Olive oil
400g Tin chopped tomatoes  
3 Fresh large tomatoes chopped or 1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Garlic cloves 
Leaves from a sprig of rosemary & thyme (you can use dried but just
1/2 tsp each)
Salt and pepper

FOR THE TOPPINGS:
150g King prawns
1 Red onion chopped
2 Peppers, 1 green, 1 red, chopped
3 tsp Harissa paste
125g Soft mild goats cheese 
100g Mozzarella
1 Red chilli (optional), finely sliced
Fresh peas (optional)

Makes 3 20cm pizzas 

I love making bread, and now my husband has made me a pizza oven in the garden, also pizza dough. I have a mixer with a dough hook which makes everything so much easier but if you are making by hand and want to see a master at work then check out Richard Bertinet on YouTube.

DOUGH: With a mixer, put the water and the oil in the bowl.  Top with the flour and put the yeast on one side and the salt on the other.  If they mix too early then the salt makes the yeast less active.  Mix for 2 minutes on a slow setting and then increase to a medium setting for about 8-10 minutes.  The dough should be clean away from the sides, neat and springy in texture.
Remove it from the bowl and use a dough scraper (totally invaluable) to move the dough around the work surface to make a tight springy ball.  I don’t use any flour on my granite kitchen surface but if you do, keep it minimal. 
Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave for an hour or more until it nearly doubles in size.  Depending on the temperature, it can sometimes take a couple of hours so I tend to make the dough in the middle of the afternoon for the evening.

SAUCE: Whilst the dough is proving, make the tomato sauce.  Now again I have a stick blender but if you don’t, chop up your veg/herbs finely. 

Chop the onion and put in a saucepan with the olive oil.  Cook gently for 10 minutes until translucent.  
Add the tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes (or the paste), herbs & garlic cloves.  Because I blend it, I add the garlic whole just out of their skin (otherwise finely chop or grate).  Simmer for 25 minutes.  Then blend at this stage if have a stick blender to make a smooth paste.  Season to taste & leave to cool.

DOUGH: Once the dough is proved, split it into 3 and shape into balls using the dough scraper.  Put a sprinkling of semolina onto a board or baking tray, add the dough balls and cover. Leave them for 30 mins or up to an hour and then get ready to shape.

Heat your oven to 230°C fan.

DOUGH: To shape your dough, sprinkle semolina on your work surface.  This will stop the dough sticking but it won’t work into the dough like flour and dry it out.  Use the heel of your hand to flatten and push  the dough outwards. Work it outwards using this action and keep turning it as you go until you get a rough circle of around 20cm, the outside edge will be a bit thicker.  (There is no shame if you use a rolling pin by the way to shape you dough!)  I now move my shaped dough onto my baking sheet or my pizza oven shovel (cover either with some semolina).

PIZZA: Add a big spoon of the tomato sauce to the base, the recipe makes enough for 3 pizzas.  Use the spoon to evenly coat the surface towards the edge.  Add 50g of the mozzarella to each pizza and equally top each pizza with the remaining ingredients, I put the goats cheese & harissa paste on last using a spoon to dot bits around the pizza.

Cook towards the top of the oven for 10-12 mins until bubbling and the base is crisp.  You can shuffle the pizza off the baking tray onto the shelf for the last few minutes to help crisp up the bottom, but be very careful if you do this – hot pizza, hot oven can equal nasty burns so don’t if you are accident prone like my son Fred!

To Drink: Pair with any of the Drinks Kitchen aperitif