Pizza

Who doesn't love Italian? Pizza. Pasta. Gelato. Tiramisu. A piping hot Cafe! While I love savouring the cuisine unique to different cultures, Italian is by far one of my favourites. When I lived in the UK my first trip to Europe was to Italy. Of course. We had barely landed when we went searching for our first real pizza - compliments of Italy! I was bitterly disappointed. The thing about copying something that is not originally yours, is that you make it according to your own interpretation. Most English speaking countries are used to a thick base pizza (cringe) loaded with toppings. However, back in Italy, pizza is thin crusted and the topping is minimal.

While we were in Italy we visited Pompeii. Some of the most fascinating excavations are of the original bakeries or restaurants. They would've been considered more of an eating house. Like our modern day take-aways. While pizza ovens looked a lot like we know them today - I was fascinated by their "Pizza House". I couldn't quite figure out - and nobody could answer my question - as to how these serving pizza counters (with the sunk serving dishes) served a pizza. But they must've been popular because pizza still retains its legacy around the world as a popular food of choice.

Back home we also love pizza. But our homesteading version. We make everything from scratch. The delicious cheese (compliments of my goats), tomato paste, onions, all the wonderful herbs and veggies to roast for the topping, plus our freshly milled flour. And my secret ingredient; ground coriander!!

As long as I have plenty of olives, a fresh batch of tomato paste and cheese - a lot of cheese - then the other toppings are merely a matter of preference and what is available in the garden. We love roasted eggplant with garlic. Spinach is also yummy but it must be the baby leaves so that they don't lose moisture and make a soggy pizza. I always add herbs and avo, but only once the pizza is cooked as you don't want to cook them.

Let's whip up Pizza!!

PIZZA DOUGH:

1 cup brown flour (per pizza)
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
A dash of cayenne pepper

Based on how many people you want to feed - and how many pizzas you need to make - you'll double or triple the size of the batch. Measure out your flour, salt, cayenne and coriander. Pour in the olive oil and slowly drizzle in the water as you stir the flour. I use a fork. You need to reach a sticky consistency. Easy and moist to handle but not a gooey mess. Add more or less water to make sure your pizza dough is perfect!

Do a casual knead of the dough for a minute just to make sure there are no dry bits. Then roll into balls. The number of balls are dependent on the number of cups of flour. In our case this recipe is for only one pizza. For a fast snack we also love the pizza base simply cooked with extra ground coriander, cinnamon and a teaspoon of honey. Served with herbal tea this makes a wonderful and filling sweet treat that is almost as fast to make as it is to eat!

This is a wonderful homeschooling tool as the children love rolling out the dough almost as much as they love to gobble up the results of their baking. Put your frying pan on a medium to low heat. Lightly dry fry one side of your pizza.

Before cooking the other side you need to add the toppings. In order to do so remove the pizza base once lightly browned on one side only, but not cooked. While you dress up your pizza lightly brown the next pizza base.

Add the toppings to the lightly browned side and then carefully slid your pizza back into the pan, on a medium heat. Make sure the still uncooked side faces down so that it can cook. I pop a lid on top as it helps melt the cheese and cook the toppings. Once you smell that delicious pizza remove the lid and allow it to cook another minute or two before removing from the pan.

While the first pizza was cooking you should have had plenty of time to prepare the second. Because this is not oven baked pizza it is important to lightly brown one side of the pizza which will hold the toppings. Once the pizza is off the heat I add the fresh herbs and a generous serving of avo and black pepper.

Once I slice up the pizza I am always amazed at how fast it disappears! While the ancient Italians may be horrified at my version of pizza, the Buckaroo Clan are not! I am expected to whip up pizza at least every week. As long as the crust is thin and the cheese is generous how can you go wrong?