A PESTO PIZZA WITH JAMIE OLIVER'S PIZZA DOUGH

I don't quite like red pizza sauce on pizzas. Just like the guy who does not like green eggs and ham. But, Sam-I-am, I do like green pesto sauce on pizzas. I like it so much that I'll....

.... have it on a boat, 

I'll have it in a coat, 

I'll have it day and night 

'specially if I'm a goat. 

I'll have it while I think

Or even while I blink

I'll have a thousand times a day

Especially when I'm Queen

I'll have it on my blog

I'll have it while I slog

I'll have it all the time

Especially when I'm bored

So that is what I've made today

A crispy crusty pizza dough

With green sauce of pumpkin seeds

and some happy C-lantro

Green sauce on pizza dough.

A disc that fell from heaven's place

And landed, thankfully, in my face.

  

Jamie's pizza crust is seriously good. Crispy and crusty and easy.

Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe ~ I made half and I got 8 pieces of 7 inch pizza bases (I freeze the extras).

7 cups bread flour or

5 cups + 2 cups semolina

1 level T sea salt
2 (11 gm) packet instant yeast

2 T raw sugar ( I used white)

4 T extra virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Push aside. Put in the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the lukewarm water and mix well. Let stand a few minutes. (I left it for five because I couldn't wait any longer than that).

Pour the flour/salt mix onto a board or table and make a well in the centre. Pour in the liquid ingredients and slowly using a fork, let the flour at the sides of the well fall into the liquid until all the flour have been incorporated. 

Use your hands now and bring the dough together and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. I kneaded for about 10 minutes by hand. Add flour a little at a time if the dough is too sticky but be wary. Do not add too much. Just flouring the board occasionally and flouring your hands well and kneading lightly should be sufficient. Once done let sit in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel (clean) and let rise for an hour.

Once doubled in bulk and it does not spring back when you make a belly button, take it out from the bowl onto a table top and punch it down to rid of air. Divide the dough into portions depending on how large or small you want your pizza to be. Roll each piece into a smooth ball and then flatten with your hand into a thick disc. Then roll it out on a floured board until you get a thin circle of dough as thin or thick as you like. I like thin.

Build the pizza ~

Pumpkin seed and cilantro pesto (adapted from Pam's of Sidewalk Shoes) 
Halved cherry tomatoes
Crisp fried local anchovies
Basil leaves
Mozarella cheese

Preheat the oven to the highest setting. Slip in a baking tray (upside down preferably) if I you don't have a pizza stone. Let it get really hot, maybe 10 - 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.


I lay the pizza dough disc on a piece of parchment paper a little larger than the pizza dough itself so that I could easily lift the topped pizza onto the baking tray by lifting the sides of the parchment. Spread the pesto over the dough. I topped the pizza with halved cherry tomatoes, crispy fried local anchovies, basil leaves, and then mozarella cheese. SERIOUS YUM.

Lift the pizza by holding on the sides or corners of the parchment paper and slip it on to the baking tray. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the pizza crust are golden brown and crunchy. YUM YUM. 

I am submitting this to Yeast Spotting !