This past weekend I’ve done something fantastic. Something I don’t do very often. I’ve done next to nothing!
Yup, with the exception of Sunday nights fireworks (which celebrate the end of all the Festival) I had absolutely nothing planned. OK, so a 45 minute firework display (launched from Edinburgh Castle and set to live music from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Princes Street Gardens below) isn’t something that you ‘plan in’ for every weekend, but for us it sends August off in fantastic fashion - even when it’s technically in September - and marks the point at which life in the city returns to ‘normal’.
With a bit more time on my hands, I decided that I was going to celebrate my Saturday evening in by ignoring a certain ‘singing’ competition, eating pizza, drinking beer and watching light-hearted action films. Of course, buying a pre-made pizza and opening a bottle of over-produced, under-performing commercial beer would be the easy options here; however, I like to get a bit more involved in the process when I can, so I decided that I’d make my pizza and do something a bit more interesting with a much more tasty beverage.
I bought a copy of the Fabulous Baker Brothers first book a while ago, but the summer has got a bit in the way of me making anything from it (apart from some sort-of successful spinach English muffins - if you were watching the Bake Off last week and thought they looked ‘a bit too simple’, think again my friends), so I decided that their pizza bases were going to be what I attempted. Topped off by bits I bought whilst shopping, I ended up with an excellent BBQ chicken, mozzarella and basil pizza. With a good crust, and an excellent flavour from the wholemeal flour in the dough, this recipe is definitely a keeper! Sure it’s a bit of a faff, but the end result more than justifies it.
Keen to avoid the pitfalls of horrible beer, I opted to let my curiosity lead me to a potential horror story of a beer cocktail which I’d seen online earlier in the week. Yes, I know. A beer cocktail. Manly as it sounds (…) I’m going to leave you in suspense on this one to avoid an especially long blog post, we can talk about this in tomorrow’s post.
My choice of films might have been distinctly average and forgettable (Jack Reacher and This Means War), but my food choices were spot on. Would it make me sound old beyond my years if I said I’d like to do Saturday nights in more often?
Home Made Wholemeal Pizza
This recipe was adapted from The Fabulous Baker Brothers self-titled first book. I made it pretty much as the recipe said (for a change) which probably explains how it worked so well. It makes pizza bases for two pretty hunger people. The toppings are my own.
Ingredients
for the bases:
185g strong white flour
60g wholemeal flour
5g sea salt
2.5g dried yeast
140ml warm water
20ml olive oil
for the topping:
6 plum tomatoes
small handful of basil
1 clove of garlic
1/2 pack of prepared bbq chicken
1 ball of mozzarella
Directions
Put all the dry ingredients for the bases in a large bowl and pour in the water (make sure it’s not too ‘warm’ or you’ll kill the yeast) and mix them together with you hands - or a mixer, if you’re boring and prefer it that way. The dough should then come together to be slightly sticky, but not so bad that it doesn’t hold together. If you need to thicken it or loosen it add more white flour or water, respectively.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it for about 12 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic-y (this means the gluten is building strength). It will take a bit of work, but if you don’t do enough now the bases will be much denser that you want. Once kneaded, put back in the bowl, cover with cling film and rest for about an hour at room temperature.
Once it has risen, take it out and stretch the dough a little, before splitting it into your two bases. Then, using your hand, make the two pieces into balls. Bring your fingers into a claw-like shape and flatten the balls into mini pizza shapes. Rub some oil on to both sides and then cover once again and leave to prove for a further half hour.
Whilst it is proving, crush your garlic and finely cube your tomatoes. Put them in a pot over a medium heat and let them simmer away for 5-10 minutes until they become a more sauce-like consistency. Then add in the basil (chopped) with some salt and pepper. Cover and leave it to settle and the flavours infuse. Preheat your oven to 230ºC and get your pizza stone ready in the oven so it will be hot too.
Take the dough and hold it at one edge. Moving round the edge with your hands, form a slightly thicker rim (which will become your crust) and gravity will take care of stretching the rest of the dough out. There is also a spinning method, but I haven’t quite hacked that yet. When your base is ready - you can see how circular mine was from the photos - place it on your hot pizza stone and let it cook for a few minutes until it is starting to colour. At this point take it out (your second base should now be ready to go in to ‘blind bake’) and smother it in your tomato sauce before scattering with the chicken and cheese. Put back in the oven for a further 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese sufficiently melted.
Edinburgh-dwelling, baking and food-obsessed, twenty-something adventure enthusiast. Runs on liberal amounts of coffee, cheese, cake and gin; bribable with same.
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