Greek Pizza with Ballymaloe Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Cooking Time: 30 minutes (excluding time for dough to rise) - Preheat the oven to 250°C/475°F/Gas Mark 9
- Serves: 6-8
- Allergens: Wheat, dairy
Description
Traditional Greek ingredients – black olives, Feta and red onion, combine with a classic Italian pizza base and Ballymaloe Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce to create a pizza like no other. Pop some Ballymaloe Diced Irish Beetroot on top and you’ve got a tasty twist on this Mediterranean-inspired meal. Thanks to our friends from Saturday Pizzas at Ballymaloe Cookery School for their perfect pizza dough recipe. When letting your dough rise, a slow rise is always better (overnight, up to 48 hours). Remember to take your homemade pizza dough out of the fridge at least one hour before you plan to make your pizzas.
Ingredients
- For the bases - makes 6 x 25cm (10") pizzas:
- 550ml cold water
- 1½ x 7g (¼ oz) sachets of fast-action dried yeast
- 950g “00” flour or strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt
- For the topping (per pizza):
- Ballymaloe Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce
- 50g Mozzarella
- 50g Feta
- ¼ red onion (cut into strips)
- 8 kalamata or black olives (remember to take out the stone)
- Ballymaloe Diced Irish Beetroot
Dietary Suitability
Method
- Preheat the oven to 250°C/475°F/Gas Mark 9.
- Pour the water into the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with a dough hook, then add the flour on top of the water, then add the yeast and salt in separate piles. Mix for 10 minutes on a medium-low speed. For the first few minutes, the mixture will look shaggy and you might be worried that it won’t come together, but leave it be and by the end of the 10 minutes the dough should be smooth, springy and slightly sticky. Check the dough after a couple of minutes, though, to see how it’s coming along. If it’s really dry and isn’t coming together, add another tablespoon of water. If it looks really wet, add another tablespoon of flour. Alternatively, if you don’t have a mixer, you can knead the dough by hand.
- Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and tip the dough out onto it. Knead it by hand a few times to bring it together into a smooth, round ball that holds its shape well and springs back when you poke it. If it doesn’t pass those tests, knead it for 1-2 minutes more.
- Using a dough cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough in half. Pressing it firmly into the work surface, roll each piece into a smooth ball - like a tennis ball. Put the dough balls on a baking tray dusted with flour. Cover tightly with cling-film or soak a clean tea towel in cold running water from the tap and wring it out really well, then cover the dough with the damp cloth. Place the covered plates or tray in the fridge for at least 6 hours (but ideally overnight or even up to 48 hours) to let it have a long fermentation and a slow rise. The longer you let the dough sit in the fridge, the more flavour it will have.
- Take the dough out of the fridge 1 hour before you want to cook the pizzas, making sure you keep it covered with the clingfilm or damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out. When you’re ready to shape the dough, dust a thin wooden chopping board generously with flour. You can either stretch the dough by hand or use a rolling pin. If you’re using a rolling pin, dust that with flour too.
- Heat the Ballymaloe Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce in a saucepan until bubbling. Flour your work surface and roll out one of the pizza bases (the rest can be rolled out and frozen if you’re not using them).
- Place the pizza base on a flat baking sheet, preferably without edges or a rim, top with the sauce, add your cheese, assorted Greek toppings and 8-12 pieces of Ballymaloe Diced Irish Beetroot.
- Bake in the oven until the edges are golden-brown (8-12 minutes).
