That's Amore

Last week Mary and I visited our Italian neighbours Anna and her husband Patrizio. Anna is a fabulous cook and with our prosecco out came wonderful pizza pieces with pumpkin and basil. I asked her the secret of her dough and was astonished when she told me she made it in her breadmaker. Right I thought, bugger this hand kneading I will give it a go in the Kitchenaid.

The method I used was this. Take a packet of yeast (a 7 gram sachet), add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 375 grams of bread flour. Whizz it around with the paddle blade to mix and then switch to the dough hook. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 250 ml of tepid water and knead at speed 2 for a minute.

Allow to prove in the mixing bowl covered with a tea towel in a warm non draughty spot for an hour until the dough doubles in size. Then knead again for a minute or so with the dough hook sprinkling with a little more flour if it is sticky. If it sticks to the dough hook just stop the mixer a couple of times and take it off with your hands.

Halve the dough and you will be able to roll out two 26cm pizza bases. Add your toppings and cook at 220C for 20 minutes.

Today I did one with a roast pumpkin and roast garlic puree spread over the base and topped with roast pumpkin slices, Meredith Farm goats fetta and artichoke hearts. The other was a diced Italian tomato puree and fresh buffalo mozarella, spanish Serrano ham and basil. Sprinkle a little ground black pepper and drizzle with olive oil before consigning to the oven.

I cooked one on a pizza stone and the other on a perforated base non stick pizza plate. The latter works heaps better than the stone and is easier to work with as well.

There you go. What's stopping you? The world's just a big pizza pie. It's amore as Dino would say.