Pesto Pizza

PIZZA WITH BABY TOMATOES AND BASIL PESTO

This is a wonderfully simple and light, yet tasty pizza that your whole family can enjoy. Perfect for casual weekends or Meatless Mondays. Make sure you use a good quality pesto for the topping.

INGREDIENTS

Dough:
1kg White flour
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Tsp salt
1 Tbs castor sugar
600ml Luke warm water
14g Dry yeast

Topping:
350ml Tomato puree
280g Baby tomatoes, sliced in half
450g Mozzarella cheese, grated
130g Basil pesto

METHOD

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the yeast, castor sugar, salt and olive oil to the water and stir until it is all mixed in.
3. Set your mixer to a low speed and use a dough hook.
4. Slowly add the mixture to the flour until it is all in and let the mixer continue until the flour and mixture are all mixed in.
5. Dust the counter with a liberal amount of flour and then empty your dough onto the counter.
6. Knead the dough until it is soft and springy to touch.
7. Roll your dough into a ball and leave it to stand for 1 hour.
8. Knead the dough for a minute or two.
9. Cut a quarter of the dough off and using a rolling pin, shape your base.
10. Place the base on a tray. (I use a normal baking tray for a rectangular shaped pizza)
11. Cover the base with the tomato puree.
12. Cover the base thoroughly with the Mozarella cheese.
13. Scatter the halved baby tomatoes all over the base and then place in the oven on 180°C and bake for around 25minutes.
14. Once ready, remove from the oven and dot the basil pesto over the pizza.
15. Slice and serve.

Serves 4, allowing for 2 large slices each

• NOTE: The remaining dough can be sealed in cling-film and frozen until your next pizza night, or it works really well simply baked as a loaf of bread.