Pizza bases

By: Rohan Anderson
From: A Year of Practiculture
Makes: 4-6
Photographer: Rohan Anderson & Kate Berry

Like anything food-related, you can buy pizza bases pre-made at the supermarket. That’s okay – you’ll feel well fed after eating them – but the reality is that you’ve probably eaten more than you bargained for. The food will have additives in it. The flour that made it will be cheap and highly processed, minimising its nutritional value. And the bases will come wrapped in plastic and cardboard, adding to their carbon footprint. The alternative isn’t perfect, but it minimises some of the negative impacts. You can source better flour – organic, for a start. And making it yourself means you haven’t bought packaged food. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it all adds up. There are a lot of us in the world. If we all make small changes in our buying habits, we have the potential to make a significant impact. Or, as I said earlier, you can just buy the pre-made version.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
375ml	lukewarm water
2 tablespoons	dried yeast
a few pinches	caster sugar
600g	organic plain flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch	salt
2 tablespoons	olive oil, plus extra for greasing
	semolina, for dusting (optional)

Method

Mix the water, yeast and caster sugar in a bowl and stir. Set aside for 10 minutes, by which time there should be bubbles on the surface.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, olive oil and yeast mixture until a dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a floured bench and knead for a few minutes.
Transfer to an oil-greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes. It should double in size.
Cut into tennis-ball-sized pieces (I know, sounds odd), and roll each one out on a floured bench to 1 cm thick and pizza tin/stone size.
If you have a pizza stone, sprinkle semolina flour on it before laying the pizza base down for baking, as it helps to make a crunchy base.
You can wrap any leftover uncooked bases in plastic wrap and freeze them for later use.