Melody's Pizza House

I'm a bit of a fan of good homemade pizzas, especially ones made from scratch. When the choice of Pizza places are around here are limited and sometimes a bit dodgy (I'm not a fan of Turkey bacon, nor Beef bacon!) it is best to make your own.

I have numerous recipes for pizza bases and I've made about a dozen different types - ones using the bread maker, ones by hand, ones using the mix master (with dough hook). But time and time again I come back to this recipe by Australian chef, Karen Martini. It is tasty, simple and it hasn't failed me. Yet. It also makes the right amount of dough for like 3 big pizzas.

My last batch of pizzas yielded about 4 medium pizzas (MrL and I could only eat 3 of them) and 2 small pizzas (for the girls - Monet likes to decorate those ones). Sometimes I use my pizza trays (if wanting 3 big pizzas), other times I free form and place on semolina laced alfoil - works a treat and doesn't stick.

Here's a photo of the ones we gobbled up the other night, before a light layering of '4 Italian Cheeses' were added.

Top L-R; Tapanade Pizza, Tandoori Lamb
Bottom L-R; Roasted Vegetable Pizza, Salami and Anchovy Pizza

Look nice eh?

I can tell you that these pizzas were honestly the best ones I have ever made and I've been making them for a few years now.

My trick is to make the dough early - like a good 8-10 hours before you are actually going to eat them. The dough rises nicely over quite a few hours to make the base more higher and fluffier than if you just leave it for an hour (where it will still be quite tasty, but a thinner base.) I also roll out the dough about 90 minutes before I'm going to decorate - this way they rise some more but easily pat down with your fingertips. And thirdly, keep your toppings simple and put a few splashes of olive oil over your toppings before adding a light layering of cheese.

*nom nom*