A couple of days later the lovely Adam from Roma sent a little parcel my way. When I openend the door to the postman it was like Christmas, there he was brandishing 2 lovely parcels for me, 1 from Roma and the other, my Amazon order. When I opened the parcel it contained the flour as promised and also some Roma pasta, a lovely little storage tin and a recipe card containing recipes for calzone and ravioli. I had great intentions to make the calzones last Friday but then 'stuff' cropped up and there was no time for that, a very busy bank holiday followed chock full of eating out and entertaining at home so that was the weekend gone.
When I woke on Tuesday I was more than a little tired and possibly a little grumpy, but with only myself and my shadow in the house I can neither confirm or deny that. Things started to look a little brighter when I opened the fridge, there staring back at me was a pack of parma ham. We had a little chat and the general consensus was that the ham was prepared to sacrifice itself for the good of mankind and the love of pizza. Now, I know what yiz are all thinking. Pizza. For dinner. Of a Tuesday. I know, I know but I was tired, I'm weak and I love pizza so I gave in to temptation.
As I hadn't planned on having pizza I hadn't removed my sourdough starter from the freezer and so needed a quick fix recipe for a thin and crispy base. A little googling yielded the recipe I used. It is quite similar to the original pizza recipe I posted a few weeks back, in it's texture. The main difference between the 2 is obviously the inclusion of yeast in this one. It did however have the advantage of a thin crispy outer crust. Mr Boo ate the lot, my ahem little tummy could only manage 3/4's of mine, but it was yum and great if you need a quick fix recipe that doesn't require forward planning as is the case with the sourdough recipe.
Roma's Pizza and Pasta flour feels slightly different to regulair plain or cream flour. When I looked at it in the bowl it looked a little 'fluffier' (sorry, that's the only word I can think of to describe it) to me so naturally I wanted to stick my hands in to investigate further. As I lifted the flour in each hand and allowed it to fall back into the bowl it felt much softer than regular flour. The flour mixed to form a nice elastic dough and the base when cooked was crisp around the edges and light and airy under the toppings. I will definitely use this flour again when making pizza and will see how it compares when used to make my favourite sourdough base. I am also looking forward to making some ravioli with it.
*Roma Pasta & Pizza Flour (Farina Tipo "00") is available from Dunnes Stores and Superquinn.
Thin and Crispy Pizza Base
(yields 3 x 11" bases)
•500g Roma Pizza & Pasta Flour (Farina Tipo "00")
•4 tbsp Olive Oil
•1 tsp Salt
•300 ml lukewarm Water
•2 tsp (1 x 7g sachet) Dried Yeast
•1/2 tsp Sugar
1. Place the flour in a large bowl.
2. Mix the yeast with the sugar and 50ml of the lukewarm water and stir, allow to sit for 10 minutes until it develops a nice foam on top.
3. Add the olive oil and salt to the flour.
4. Now add the yeast mix to the flour, oil and salt and add the rest of the lukewarm water (250 ml). Mix with your hands and knead until you have a smooth dough.
5. Cover the dough with a clean, dry tea towel and let it sit for an hour.
6. Once the dough has risen preheat your oven to 250C/481F/Gas Mark 9.
7. Break off 1/3 of the dough and roll it with a rolling pin until you are happy with the depth of the dough (mine was approximately 5mm).
8. Place onto a floured baking sheet and dress with sauce and toppings of your choice.
9. Place into the preheated oven and bake for between 10 and 20 minutes (depending on how thick you roll your base you will need to adjust cooking times, my 5mm base was ready after 10 minutes so check at regular intervals after 10 minutes).
10. Enjoy!
