Halloween Pizza

Here's one I did today for Halloween, usual dough mix but it's for the kids so I've left out the spices.

I've added some onion, ham and made a scary face out of red and orange pepper before topping off wth cheese.

I hope they leave some for me, greedy little blighters.

Ingredients

Rather than using a pre-made pizza base I decide to try Tescos Pizza Base Mix. In the box there are two packets, each cooks one 8" pizza.

My other ingredients are peppers, pepperomi, mushrooms, grated cheese (not a good cheese for pizza) and onion.

For the base I used chilli sauce (pictured), tomato puree and some garlic sauce.

Mixing the Dough

Using the pre packed pizza dough mix was easy enough, no need for weighing flour and other stuff.

Following the instructions I emptied the base mix into a bowl, mixed in 100ml of hand hot water and kneaded the dough for 5 minutes before rolling out on a floured surface and leaving in a warm place for 10 minutes while I prepared the tomatoe base and other toppings.

Tomato Base

The tomatoe base was a mixture of tomato puree, a ready made chiili sauce (piri piri sauce, Asda) and a ready made garlic sauce (garlic ketchu from Asda)

Spread it around the base like the pic.

Please don't laugh at my attempt to roll out a circular pizza base, it's harder than it looks and I didn't fancy throwing and spinning the dough in the air like the professionals do.

Pizza Toppings

Here I've added some toppings, peppers, mushrooms, onion, pepperomi (Lidl).

You can add anything you like, don't add too much like I have here. Keep it simple and stick to just a few ingredients. I think I've spoilt this by adding far too much.

There are some suggested pizza topping above for you to try.

Finished Pizza and Suggestions

Once you've finished adding your toppings it's a simple matter of popping the pizza in the oven, gas mark 7 for 20 minutes in this case until the cheese melts and it looks nice.

Here's a few suggestions and tips I've learnt from making this pizza.

• Don't add too many toppings, keep it simple
• Use a pizza tray with holes, it gives a crispy base
• Don't use cheddar, it's too strong, use mozarella
• Mixing dough is fun and better than a ready made base

Step1: Ingredients

• Strong Flour
• olive oil
• tomato puree
• chilli sauce
• garlic sauce
• onion
• peppers
• salami
• mozarella

Step 2: Mix Tomato Base

Mix the puree, garlic and chilli sauces together in a small bowl

Step 3: Mix the dough and Spread out

Mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil to form a dough. Knead for five minutes and roll out to form a pizza shape on a floured surface.

Pizza Dough

• 225g Strong Plain Flour
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1 (6/7g) sachet of easy blend yeast
• 150ml warm water
• 30ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil

Step 4: Add the toppings

Start adding some of the toppings, in general less is best, don't over fill your pizza.

Here i've spread the tomato base and added finely chopped red onion and the salami slices.

Step 5: Finish the toppings

Continue with your toppings, spend a little time and lay them out neatly so when the pizza is cut into slices every slice has a selection of the toppings.

Here I've finished with peppers and the mozarella cheese.

Step 6: The Finished Pizza and some suggestions

Here's the finished pizza out of the oven and some tips that I learnt from making this one.

Here's some tips i'll be doing for when I make my next pizza.

• Add some yeast, I didn't and the dough was flat and stodgy
• Use a pizza tray with holes in for a crispy base
• Pat the peppers in kitchen roll to dry them before using

Have a look in the Pizza Store for a pizza tray and pizza cutter.

Recommended Products

If you plan on making a few pizzas I recommend you get yourself a pizza tray with holes and a stainless steel pizza cutter like the ones shown here.

Ingredients

Here's my ingredients for my vegetarian pizza, not pictured is 225g of Self Raising Flour I've borrowed from my mums kitchen cupboard.

Self Raising Dough Ball

Here's the dough ball and a reminder of the dough mix.

• 225g Self Raising Flour
• 45ml of olive oil
• 90ml warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Tomato Mix

I've stuck to the classic ingredients.

• tomato puree
• peri peri chilli paste
• garlic ketchup

Vegetarian Ingredients

Add some vegetarian bits

• onion
• mushroom
• peppers
• grated mozarella

Finished Pizza

I've baked it in the oven at 220 until it's done.

Here's my suggestions and tips.

• Use a rolling pin (i bought one today) rather than a glass, it's much easier
• SR flour works well, I'll stick to it in future.
• Use a large mixing bowl for your dough mix, (this will be my next purchase).

Most of all enjoy your pizza making.