When you come in on a Saturday after a hard week in work there is only one thing you need and that is to stuff yourself with a big fattening greasy takeaway that you clearly know is bad for you but hey, you deserve it, you've worked hard. Don't waste your hard earned pennies on pizza shop prices though and get on my new pizza recipe for a cheesy, meaty, chili feast with delicious cheesy stuffed crust. Yes, you need to wait a bit for the dough to proof but it's well worth the wait when your shoving those slices in your mouth!
Now I've shown you how to make a pepperoni pizza in the past and my same hints and tips apply to this fiery feast so let me go over those tips for you again as all the same rules apply:
I can't stress enough that for the most scrummy crispy pizza base you have to invest in a pizza stone. They don't cost an arm and a leg, I bought mine from M+S which was £15 at the time of writing and it worked a treat. Don't go to a specialist food or baking store as they are well overpriced and my one did exactly what I needed it too. You will get your money's worth, even if you only make homemade pizza two-three times a year, that's still money saved from getting an expensive takeaway.
Remember that a pizza can be a fabulous way of turning the weeks leftovers into something amazing. The tomato sauce for the base is leftover sauce used to make Jon's Lasagne. If you make any dish with a tomato sauce base during the week and end up making too much, keep the extra in your fridge or freezer and save it for when it's pizza day. The fact it's been marinading for a couple of days too will mean that the taste will be so much better too. If you don't have any leftovers then you can follow my simple pizza sauce recipe: open a 400g can of chopped tomatoes into a saucepan with 3 grated garlic gloves and 2 tbsp of oregano. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes and your ready to go. Just make sure it's cooled down a bit before you place it on the dough to prevent the dough turning into a soggy mess. If you really want to up the hotness then throw in a tbsp or two of dried chili flakes before simmering too.
This recipe uses spicy ingredients like the chili flakes and jalapenos to give it that spicy kick but really you can use whatever you like. Use whatever you have left in the kitchen. Its such a great way to clear out your fridge/cupboards at the end of the week and you'll feel great for not throwing out any tasty fresh food.
So why am I telling you all this again? Well this time I'm going to show you how to make delicious stuffed crusts too just to pile on the fat inducing goodness of it all. It really takes the pizza to another dimension and should stop those annoying people who don't eat crusts from wasting them (Weirdos!)Here's the recipe so get on it this weekend:
Meat Feast Pizza (makes 2, 13 inch pizzas)
For The Dough
500g Strong White Flour
1/2 Tsp Fine Salt
7g Dried Active Yeast
1/2 Tbsp Caster Sugar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
325ml Lukewarm Water
1 Chopped Medium Onion
2 Roasted Red Peppers
200g Chestnut Mushrooms
1 Large Hand full Of Chopped Jarred Jalapeno Slices
Approximately 300ml Pizza Sauce;
(Leftovers Or See Quick Recipe Above)
1 Large Mozzarella Ball
1 Pack Of Thinly Sliced Chorizo (About 24 Slices)
120g Parmigiano Reggiano
800g Grated Cheese (Your Preference)
(Or Whatever You Fancy - The Choice Is Yours)
2 Hand Fulls Of Fine Polenta
4 Tbsp Dried Chili Flakes
- Begin by preheating your oven to 220 degrees (200 fan) before making your dough.
- Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl and set to one side. Add the yeast, sugar, oil and water into a jug and leave for about two minutes to allow the yeast to start activating. You should see bubbles starting to form on the top of the mixture. If not, your water is too hot or cold so start again and adjust your water temperature accordingly.
- Make a well in the flour and pour in a third of the yeast mixture and mix together until combined before adding another third of the yeast mixture. Mix again and repeat with the final third of the mixture until the dough has all come together into a ball.
- Tip the dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough with lightly flour dusted hands for around five minutes until you have a smooth and springy dough. If the dough is too sticky then add a smidge of flour but don't got mad or you will ruin the dough. Be patient and keep kneading, the dough will soon come together.
- Place the dough into a very lightly oiled clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm, dry place to rise for 1 hour.
- If your using a pizza stone, place it in the oven so that it gets super hot in time for baking the pizza.
- Whilst the dough is rising, take the onion, peppers, and mushrooms and chop into equal sized pieces depending on how chunky you like your pizza toppings.
- Place them all into a very lightly oiled pan on a medium heat with the jalapeno peppers and fry for around five minutes to draw out some of the moisture from the veg. This will prevent the dreaded soggy bottom on your pizza base, especially if you do not have a pizza stone! If your veg is starting to brown then remove from the heat immediately. You
don't want to cook them now, that will happen later in the oven. - After frying the veg, tip them into a colander to allow any remaining water/oil to drain from them.
- Whilst your still waiting for your dough to rise get all your other toppings ready. Make sure your sauce is cool, slice the mozzarella ball (enough pieces for 2 pizzas) and place into a bowl and put your parmigiano reggiano and grated cheese into another bowl. All ready to go!
- After the dough has been rising for an hour it should of at
least doubled its size. Knock the air out the dough and tip out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Split the dough into two equal pieces, take one half and put back into the oiled bowl and recover with the damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out. - Roll out the other half of the dough on some greaseproof paper covered with a hand full of the polenta until it is thin and about 1 inch wider than the size of your pizza stone.
- Take 1 quarter of the parmigano and grated cheese mix and place this around the circumference of the dough. Fold the edges of the dough over the cheese and seal by tucking the dough in and pressing it down so that the cheese is all covered to form your stuffed crusts.
- Carefully remove the pizza stone from the oven and transfer the dough (ideally with a pizza peel) to the pizza stone. Trim off any excess dough and leave to one side.
- Take a ladle and pour on a layer of the tomato sauce onto thedough base and spread around with the under side of the ladle. Your tomato sauce should cover the whole base but it should be thin enough be able to see the dough through it otherwise you again will increase the risk of a soggy bottom.
- Next, layer on half of the fried vegetables, mozzarella and pepperoni slices over the sauce. Make sure everything it is spread evenly so that not only will each slice have a piece of everything but it will also be evenly cooked all over.
- Cover everything with a layer of another quarter of the parmigiano reggiano and grated cheese and on the middle shelf of the oven for 35 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the crusts golden brown. Leave on the stone whilst you use a pizza wheel to slice into as many slices as you like.
- Repeat from step 12 again with the remaining half of the ingredients to make your second pizza. You can either eat the first pizza now whilst the second one bakes or keep it warm by covering with foil and putting back in the oven for the last few minutes of the second pizza's bake.
- Take to the table and then stick your face in them! It's the ultimate in weekend comfort food. Be careful with the stuffed crust if you eat them straight from the oven as the melted cheese inside will be as hot as the earths core. Make sure you prepare some quickidy quick pizza dips to dip your crusts into as well for the ultimate feast, something cooling against the chili like a garlic mayo or honey mustard dip will compliant it the best. Eat until your fit to burst before lying on the couch for the remainder of the evening.
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