FLOWER POT KITCHEN: THIN CRUST PIZZA AND GARLIC DOUGH BALLS

20 May 2013

THIN CRUST PIZZA AND GARLIC DOUGH BALLS

SUPER THIN STONE BAKED PIZZA

Practising using my pizza peel as I am on a four week countdown to having a pizza oven party, well 4 week countdown I still have to build my clay pizza oven ! So before all the really hard work starts, which I will be blogging each stage of the build I am having fun making all different types of dough, testing storage and most of all trying to find the perfect dough that is super thin, crispy, light and really tasty for my pizzas.

I am really excited and cant wait to have wood fired baked pizzas, breads and so much more.

INGREDIENTS

15g fresh yeast

500g strong white flour

10g salt

50g olive oil

320g water

So simple rub the yeast into the flour like breadcrumbs, add the salt and then add the oil to the water and mix into the flour to form a loose dough.

Turn out on to your work top, no flour needed at this stage, and work air into the dough as explained below and then rest. Once your dough is ready to use push or roll or throw the dough if you want to a really thin almost see through base and top with some reduced tomato pasatta and oregano and a little grated mozzarella, any toppings you choose, my favourites in order are pepperoni or Hawaiian or a BBQ meat feast ! Today I just had fresh tomatoes, some really good quality buffalo mozzarella, green peppers and fresh basil to finish off with.

To cook a really good pizza our ovens are not really hot enough, what we really need is a 400 degrees oven, (hence the impending wood fired clay oven), but mine only goes to 230 degrees, but the pizza stone helps raise that cooking temp to 250 degrees which helps with creating a nice crispy base. My 9" pizza only took 5 minutes to cook at this temp and was one of the best I have eaten, so I really cant wait until I have cooked in the clay wood fired oven as people say you have not had a pizza until you have had it from a wood fired oven.

Working air into my dough, this is a lovely relaxing way to work air into the dough, it takes approx five minutes of flopping over the dough and rolling it back on its self trapping in the air, when the dough is ready to be rested it comes soft and smooth with a silky look. At this point I form the dough into a ball and place in a floured bowl to rest for approx. 1 hr until doubled in size, I then divided the dough into three balls and rested again for 10 minutes before pushing out the dough for the pizza bases, nice and thin.

Take a little dough and roll into a rectangle, in the centre place some butter, chopped garlic and a little fresh parsley, fold over one half, half way and do the same with the other side, so in effect you know have a sausage, cut into 10 balls and cook for 3-4 minutes and then enjoy these lovely dough balls bursting with creamy butter and garlic.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.