Just as my pastas for all seasons, you can have pizzas for all seasons. Let your friends and family decorate their part of the pizza with their favourite veggies. Bring home what’s in season from the market. How about eggplants, zucchini, any kind of squash, tomatoes (of course), fennel, finely sliced beets, rucola, onions, new garlic, basil and oregano?
The market on a pizza!
For the dough – it’s so easy! 250g or 2 good cups of flour, plus a little extra for dusting 3/4 tsp salt 15g or 1/2 ounce fresh yeast (at the health store or ask at the bakery) (or take 1/4 ounce of dry yeast) 120ml or 4 fluid ounces of lukewarm water
For the topping – everybody’s happy. You can either prepare a simple tomato sauce (olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, salt, pepper) or take sliced fresh tomatoes Mozzarella cheese (very easy to make yourself, by the way – is there a vendor at market who sells mozzarella?) Veggies and herbs from the market Whatever delights who have in the pantry: capers, olives, anchovis...
Prepare the yeast by mixing it with the lukewarm water, add a dash of sugar if you like to help the yeast a little.
Prepare a good work surface. Sift the flour and salt into a mound and make a little indent in the middle. Pour the yeast-water into the mound, and gently mix in flour from the sides into that lake. Make a smooth dough by kneading it well for a while. Form a ball and place in a bowl. Cover with a wet towel and put into a warm spot. Let it rise for 2-3 hours – it should double its size.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it gently on your work surface. Flatten and form into a circle. I prefer a thin crust of about 2-5mm, make it as thik as you like. The rim should be a little thikker than the rest of the pizza.
Spread the tomato sauce over the dough, or, if you are using fresh tomtoes arrange them on your pizza together with the other ingredients to your liking. Don’t put too much on it though, otherwise the dough won’t get crisp. Preheat oven to 430 F. Bake pizza for 20-30 minutes. Watch it carefully while baking. Add oregano and basil 5 min. before it’s done, so they don’t burn. If you are using a woodfire oven it will only take a couple of minutes to bake! Take out, sprinkle with Olive oil and salt, and serve immediately.
