If you’ve been on Instagram for just a minute you will probably have seen these trending pizza sandwiches. They’re delicious. I highly recommend you make these! I’ve used my sourdough pizza base recipe, and then any surplus dough I used to make extra pizzas for easy mid-week dinners!
Serves 3
Ingredients
Half batch of sourdough pizza base, divided into 3 small balls, rested for 30 minutes before cooking (or make a full batch and use any leftover dough for pizzas)
Preheat the oven to maximum temperature with your pizza stone and allow to fully heat.
Use a little rice flour and shape the dough into a disk in the same way you would for a pizza. Brush half the surface with 1 tsp of the olive oil, and fold the unbrushed side over the top. Transfer to the pizza stone to cook for 6-8 minutes till golden and crispy.
Once cooked, generously spread the wild garlic pesto on the inside of the pizza dough, and fill with rocket, tomatoes, burrata and basil leaves.
If you’ve been on Instagram for just a minute you will probably have seen these trending pizza sandwiches. They’re delicious. I highly recommend you make these! I’ve used my sourdough pizza base recipe, and then any surplus dough I used to make extra pizzas for easy mid-week dinners!
Serves 3
Ingredients
Half batch of sourdough pizza base, divided into 3 small balls, rested for 30 minutes before cooking (or make a full batch and use any leftover dough for pizzas)
Preheat the oven to maximum temperature with your pizza stone and allow to fully heat.
Use a little rice flour and shape the dough into a disk in the same way you would for a pizza. Brush half the surface with 1 tsp of the olive oil, and fold the unbrushed side over the top. Transfer to the pizza stone to cook for 6-8 minutes till golden and crispy.
Once cooked, generously spread the wild garlic pesto on the inside of the pizza dough, and fill with rocket, tomatoes, burrata and basil leaves.
As fig season comes to an end, here’s an extremely delicious way of celebrating their seasonality in a savoury form. You’ll also be pleased to know that each serving (half a pizza) counts as 2 of your 5-a-day and provides over 20% of your daily fibre goals!
I use half Roquefort and half buffalo mozzarella in this recipe, as Roquefort (and other blue cheeses) are higher in salt (up to 6 times more salt in some cases). This therefore helps to give the desired salty flavour without the pizza being overly salty.
Makes 1 pizza which will feed 1 very hungry person, or two adequately hungry people
Start by adding the onions, olive oil, sugar, thyme, and water to a pan and cooking over a low heat till soft and caramelised for around 25-30 minutes, making sure the onions don’t burn.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to maximum temperature (mine is 275°C fan) and place a heavy bottom tray/pizza stone in the middle of the oven. Allow the oven to reach temperature and wait a further 10 minutes to ensure the tray is fully heated.
Dust the work surface with semolina, take a ball of dough and place it on the semolina and finely dust with flour.
Using your fingers, press around the edge 1 cm in to form a crust.
Using the palm of your hand, press inside this line to flatten the dough in the centre.
When you can press it no more, pick the dough up and using your knuckles, gently ease the dough out so it becomes thin and slightly transparent. Take care not to rip the dough. Ensure the base has an even covering of semolina.
Transfer the pizza base onto a pizza peel
Scatter the cooked onions, figs and cheeses over the top.
Transfer the pizza onto the tray in the oven using a strong and decisive forward and back motion to slide the pizza off the peel.
Cook the pizza for anywhere between 6-9 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven. The pizza should have very dark golden blistered crusts, and the mozzarella and passata should be bubbling and start turning golden.
Remove the pizza from the oven, and scatter with fresh rocket.
Best eaten straight away.
Per half pizza: 609kcal/ 19g fat/ 9.8g saturated fat/ 82g carbohydrates/ 7.1g fibre/ 24g protein
I made this for my friend who is an avid supporter of my sourdough pizzas, simply to give her something different to try. She may have protested slightly at the thought of having a “salad pizza”, but at the end of a week’s stay with me in my lockdown food bubble, this turned out to be one of her favourite foods we ate. And we ate a lot of foods!
This is easily adaptable to be vegetarian by omitting the Parma ham, and was in part inspired by a famous pizza chain’s vegan pizza dish I saw an old colleague have some 15 years ago. I must admit that back then, before I had started my path down nutrition, the thought of a cheeseless salad pizza did not appeal in the way it would do now.
If you are vegan, the base pizza dough recipe is completely vegan. You can still top it with the salad and grilled peaches, and it would be delicious as is, but I suspect the vegan dairy-free alternative cheese would make a wonderful addition to it.
2 large ripe peaches or nectarines, cut into wedges
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
80g rocket, watercress, baby leaf spinach or pea shoots
3 slices of Parma ham
1 ball burrata
Drizzle of balsamic glaze
Method
Preheat the oven to maximum temperature (mine is 275°C fan) and place a heavy bottom tray/pizza stone in the middle of the oven. Allow the oven to reach temperature and wait a further 10 minutes to ensure the tray is fully heated.
Dust the work surface with semolina, take a ball of dough and place it on the semolina and finely dust with flour.
Using your fingers, press around the edge 1 cm in to form a crust.
Using the palm of your hand, press inside this line to flatten the dough in the centre.
When you can press it no more, pick the dough up and using your knuckles, gently ease the dough out so it becomes thin and slightly transparent. Take care not to rip the dough. Ensure the base has an even covering of semolina.
Transfer the pizza base onto a pizza peel.
Add 100g passata over the base, up to but not on the crust part of the dough.
Transfer the pizza onto the tray in the oven using a strong and decisive forward and back motion to slide the pizza off the peel.
Cook the pizza for 6-7 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven. The pizza should have very dark golden blistered crusts, and the passata will have evaporated some of the liquid.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy-based griddle pan over a high heat.
Coat the peach wedges in the oil before grilling for 1-2 minutes per side.
Remove the pizza and allow to rest for 1 minute.
Scatter the pizza with the salad leaves and grilled peaches. Tear the Parma ham and evenly distribute over the pizza. Place the burrata ball in the centre and drizzle with the balsamic glaze.
Best eaten straight away.
Per serving: 756kcal/ 23.0g fat/ 11.4g saturated fat/ 88.7g carbohydrates/ 8.3g fibre/ 27.9g protein
Simple, classic, completely delicious. You could pimp it out with any toppings you wish, or just keep it as is.
The trick is to have a very thick pizza pan or a pizza stone. These retain the heat when you put the pizza on to cook, resulting in a crispy base. I use a cast iron pizza pan, which can seriously retain its heat.
Preheat the oven to maximum temperature (mine is 275°C fan) and place a heavy bottom tray/pizza stone in the middle of the oven. Allow the oven to reach temperature and wait a further 10 minutes to ensure the tray is fully heated.
Dust the work surface with semolina, take a ball of dough and place it on the semolina and finely dust with flour.
Using your fingers, press around the edge 1 cm in to form a crust.
Using the palm of your hand, press inside this line to flattern the dough in the centre.
When you can press it no more, pick the dough up and using your knuckles, gently ease the dough out so it becomes thin and slightly transparent. Take care not to rip the dough. Ensure the base has an even covering of semolina.
Transfer the pizza base onto a pizza peel.
Add 100g passata over the base, up to but not on the crust part of the dough.
Tear 50g buffalo mozzarella into large chunks and scatter over the passata.
Transfer the pizza onto the tray in the oven using a strong and decisive forward and back motion to slide the pizza off the peel.
Cook the pizza for anywhere between 6-9 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven. The pizza should have very dark golden blistered crusts, and the mozzarella and passata should be bubbling and start turning golden.
Remove the pizza, and scatter with fresh basil leaves.
Best eaten straight away.
Per whole pizza: 1028kcal/ 13.3g fat/ 7.2g saturated fat/ 145.4g carbohydrates/ 12.3g fibre/ 38.6g protein
Easy to make sourdough pizza bases which are almost foolproof. You will need a minimum of 4 hours to make the bases, but in cooler temperatures it may take a little longer. Alternatively you can make the dough over a longer period of time in increase the flavour complexity of the base by allowing a longer fermentation. You can choose what you prefer, I tend to go for a medium fermentation of between 6-8 hours to get the texture and flavour I personally enjoy for my pizzas.
Makes 3 pizzas
Ingredients
Starter
15g starter, refreshed 10-12 hours prior to use
25g strong wholemeal flour
25g strong white flour
For the dough
100g strong wholemeal flour
400g strong white flour
8g salt
Method
The night before making pizzas, mix the starter, flours and 50ml filtered water together in a jar. Leave for 10-12 hours at room temperature.
The next day, mix the two flours in a large flat bottomed dish.
Measure 300ml tepid water (25°C) and add 100g starter refreshed the night before. Mix till homogenous and add to the flour, mixing well.
Leave covered with a tea towel for 30 minutes.
Measure 75ml tepid water and add the salt, mixing till dissolved.
Add to the autolysed mixture and mix till evenly distributed.
Cover and leave for 45 minutes.
Complete 1 coil fold, cover, and rest for 45 minutes
Repeat 3 more coil folds 45 minutes apart.
After resting for 45 minutes after the fourth coil fold, tip the dough out onto the work surface and dust liberally with a 50:50 mixture of rice flour and white flour.
Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and flip each portion so it is flour side down.
Working with one piece at a time, fold the corners into the centre, trying to incorporate as little flour as possible whilst creating tention in the skin. Use a dough scraper to help. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Place the dough balls on the dusted work surface and cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
I love pizza, and while I would normally make my pizza base with sourdough, sometimes I don’t have the time to wait for the yeast to work its magic. So I use a quick flatbread base as a substitute, ready in 15 minutes.
Using wholemeal flour in the base helps increase the fibre content. Using half wholemeal gives each pizza 8.1g fibre, whereas using white flour will provide you with 4.2g fibre. This is also with just the basic toppings of tomato and cheese. Consider increasing fibre diversity by adding more vegetables, or fruits if you’re not adverse to it, as extra toppings. My favourite is roasted Mediterranean vegetables with smoked mozzarella, instead of normal, and lashings of basil.
Ingredients
200g tinned tomatoes
1/2 tsp EVOO
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/4 tsp dried herbs
100g self-raising flour
100g wholemeal flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp EVOO
200g yoghurt
1 ball of fresh mozzarella
Fresh basil leaves
Method
Preheat two baking trays in the oven set to maximum.
Add the tinned tomatoes, 1/2 tsp EVOO, tomato puree and dried herbs into a pan and allow to gently simmer till reduced in volume. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, mix the flours, baking powder, 1/2 tsp EVOO and yoghurt together till a soft dough is formed. You may need to add 1-3 tbsp water to get a dough depending on the flour used. Knead for a few minutes till smooth.
Divide the dough into two, and roll out till the thickness of a pound coin, using a little extra flour if needed. Place on a piece of baking parchment.
Take half the tomato sauce and spread it over a base, keeping a rim of dough clear.
Take half the mozzarella, roughly tear and place around the tomato sauce, again keeping clear of the sides. Repeat with the second dough ball. Option to add further toppings here.
Place on the preheated baking sheets and reduce the temperature to 220°C fan/230°C convection and bake for 8-10 minutes till the edges are golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.
Remove and top with fresh basil leaves. Best eaten immediately.
Per serving: 671kcal/ 26.3g fat/ 15.7g saturated fat/ 79.9g carbohydrates/ 8.1g fibre/ 27.5g protein
Dr Pippa 