Perfect Pizza

When it comes to Pizza nothing beats homemade. We all would love to have one of those gorgeous wood fired ovens but most of us can only dream of having our own. The crispy bottom is what your looking for and what I was to. A couple of years ago I found and old but new Terracotta tile under my house. Hence I thought, what a great way to retain heat in the oven. So it began.

We start with a basic bread dough and I add 1 cup of Polenta or Cornmeal it's the same thing really. It adds a nice flavour through the dough. I also sprinkle it on my tile when it's hot to stop the pizza from sticking to the tile. Gives a nice texture to the crispy bottom of the pizza as well. I then preheat my oven to 210 degrees for a fan forced or 230 degrees for a non fan forced, making sure my tile is in the oven.

Take a piece of dough about the size of a cricket ball or a little bigger if you like. Roll it out into a circular shape as in the pictures above. The dough circle doesn't have to be perfect. It's rustic, that's a good sign it's homemade. Then we add a savoury chutney, spread it all over the bottom of the pizza base. These pizzas, I used a peach chutney, that I bought at the supermarket. Then I sprinkle a nice amount of grated mozzarella cheese. Not to much. Then add your desired toppings. Last but not least slices of baby boccini. The real stuff is much nicer on the top. Lots of stringiness. You can get it at the deli section of your supermarket.

For this pizza we have used cut up cooked skinless sausages, kallamatta olives, pineapple, some cabanossi and of course a sprinkling of chopped fresh garlic, salt and pepper. Transfer onto your tile at the last moment. Each pizza takes roughly 8 to 10 minutes till golden and crispy. They are a great hit for the kids because they can top their own and save you half the work ;)

You can pick up a Terracotta tile at any tile shop and it should only cost you a a few dollars. Alot cheaper than a pizza oven. This does the same job as any pizza place. The best thing is you get exactly what you want and what you paid for.