" When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. that's amore"

Everyone has their favourite comfort food, the thing that soothes the soul and makes you sleepy afterward. Perhaps that's what a carbo coma is but nevertheless the joy it excudes is incomparable. Mine has always been pizza, since I was a child and my mum would make pizza with smiley faces on them, or the amazing 'dinosaur mini pizza's' of the 90's in the shape a claw. ( I'm sure I've brought back nostalgic 90's memories for some of us)
I've been making my own pizza for years, from square tray bakes from university days to become a slight pizza purist today.
I have googled and tested and I finally have come up with a great recipe that will transport you to the old country.
This recipe doesn't have any additional toppings of saucy sauces, a classic margharita is my favourite any day of the week.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:

3 cups stone ground cake flour
8 grams dried yeast
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
300ml of warm water
a dash of olive oil

• Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer and knead for 8 minutes or until when you indent the dough it springs back ( that way you know that you have activated the gluten sufficiently)
• Place dough in a oiled bowl and cling wrap, place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight ( Cold fermentation creates a more complex flavour but if you are pressed for time, sit the dough in a warm place until double in size)

Pizza sauce

A dash of olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin whole tomatoes
1 tsp salt
bunch of basil

• Heat olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat, saute onion until translucent. Add your garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
• Add tinned tomatoes and salt, simmer for twenty minutes
• Add basil and using a stick blender, blend sauce until smooth.

Toppings

bunch of parsley, chopped
1 cup of grated parmesan
3 cups of grated mozarella
olive oil for brushing

Bringing it all together

• If you happen to have pizza stones ( if you're serious about pizza making, you should really get them) place them in a cold oven and crank your oven to the highest setting. If you don't have pizza stones a baking tray would work fine too.
• Heat the oven for one hour, this way you are creating your own pizza oven
• Get your pizza dough and divide into two balls, take one ball and on a floured surface roll pizza dough out until thin and round.
• Take pizza stone or baking tray out the oven and working quickly place dough on heated surface.
• brush pizza dough with olive oil and smear pizza sauce evenly over pizza dough. Scatter parmesan, parsley and mozarella on the dough.
• Bake for 7 minutes until crisp and golden