Kit Does Jamie

11 March 2011 – I never ever would have made pizza by myself. But since Kit began, I’ve not been able to get enough of it. And because pizza needs to be eaten in company, and the recipe for the pizza base makes quite a few pizzas, we’ve had a whole menagerie of friends over to share the pizzas and all agree that Kit rocks! 

But credit must be given to Jamie Oliver whose recipe for the pizza base Kit uses. Here it is for those who want a great crust.

Ingredients

1kg strong white bread flour or 800g strong white bread flour plus 200g finely ground semolina flour

1 level tablespoon fine sea salt

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

650ml lukewarm water

Method

1. Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well.

2. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

3. Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

4. Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in cling film, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

5. Timing-wise, it’s a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don’t roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it’s better to leave your dough, covered with cling film, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there’s one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with cling film, and pop them into the fridge.

Kit's vegetarian pizza.

Salami pizza.

Brown Brothers make great pizza wine!

Adding a bit of plonk to the pizza.