The Best Pizza

The following is heavily informed by Heston Blumenthal’s pizza from his In Search of Perfection series for the BBC.

Equipment

• Metal baking sheet (without sides so that the pizza can be slid on and off easily).
  
• Large thick-bottomed frying pan (or similar).

Ingredients

For the dough (makes three pizzas)

• 2 1/4 cups strong white bread flour
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• 2 tbsp sugar
  
• 1 tbsp yeast
  
• 1 tsp salt

For the topping

You can put whatever you like on the pizza, but for this particular recipe a small number of ingredients is best because of the fast cooking time. If using meat or fish, you may want to pre- or part-cook it. Example:

• Olive oil
  
• 6–8 baby tomatoes
  
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
• Pitted black olives
  
• Quark soft cheese (or other cheese)

Method

Make the dough

First make some pizza dough; I used the recipe and method that came with our bread maker. You basically just mix the above ingredients and kneed or run the pizza programme on the bread maker.

Prepare the topping

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute, then remove and discard their skins and chop into small pieces. Finely chop the garlic. You don’t want the pizza to be wet as we cook it very quickly. Place the tomato into a sieve and let the juices drain; the juice can then be discarded.

Make the pizza

Prepare the pizza dough as above and divide into three balls. Place a ball of dough onto a metal baking sheet and roll into a circular shape with diameter not greater than that of the base of the frying pan. Drizzle some olive oil on the centre of the dough, leaving at least an inch around the outside for the crust. Then add the tomato and the garlic, again leaving room for the crust. Then add the olives and lumps of quark cheese. Add ground black pepper as desired.

Pre-heat the grill to its maximum temperature; at the same time place the frying pan on a high heat (do not put anything inside the pan). When the grill and the frying pan are very hot, turn the frying pan upside down and slide the pizza from the baking sheet onto the upturned bottom of the frying pan. The purpose of the pan is to allow the pizza to be cooked quickly from both above and below. Place the pan with the pizza under the grill. Watch the pizza carefully, as it should require no longer than 2 minutes to cook. Be aware that the pizza dough will rise and may bubble, so be careful that the toppings do not come into contact with the grill element/flame. Watch the crust on the outside of the pizza; when it starts to brown, the pizza should be cooked and may be removed.

Slide the pizza from the pan back onto the baking sheet and serve.