These are especially nice for children sitting exams: you can serve them hot for lunch at home during study leave; or cold in lunch boxes.
They also come in handy during the summer holidays!
Try also Tarte Flambee
It’s the same dough and you can alternate between the toppings.
Makes 8-10 lunchbox pizzas (or 2 medium-size main meal ones)
Tip
You can retard the dough’s final rising in the fridge for about 3 days: cover with cling film or similar and just pull off enough dough for that day. The flavour develops nicely, too.
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 300g strong white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon quick yeast
- 210ml water
Combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a roomy bowl. Use the fingertips of one hand to incorporate the water.
Knead the dough thoroughly for 10-15 minutes until smooth and silky.
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Leave until virtually doubled in size.
Turn onto a lightly floured board, knead briefly and divide into 8- 10 pieces (or two if making medium pizzas).
Roll each piece into a ball with floured hands. Flatten them into discs with a lightly floured rolling pin. If the dough seems elastic and pings back, allow it to relax for a few moments before continuing.
Transfer to greased pizza pans or trays ( if your trays are old, line with greaseproof paper).
Cover loosely with greaseproof paper and leave to rise on the trays for 30 minutes before adding the toppings.
Simple Cheese and Tomato Topping
Quantities are approximate
For each pizza, sit 1-2 tablespoons of tomato pasta sauce or passata in a sieve over a clean bowl for an hour or so to allow the surplus liquid to drain off.
Spread the pizza bases with tomato sauce and scatter with diced or thinly sliced onion and some thin strips of red, green, yellow or orange pepper. Add a sprinkling of fresh or dried oregano and a grinding of black pepper. Scatter with a small handful of grated Cheddar cheese.
Bake at 200C (fan oven or equivalent) for 7-12 minutes.
Tip
Vary the toppings to suit yourselves but be wary of adding meat if the pizzas are going to school in a lunchbox on a hot summer’s day.
Sniff Rosemary for Exam Success!
The ones in the photo have a sprig of rosemary as well: when my children were taking their GCSE’s they loved these pizzas for lunch - and the papers at the time were full of articles on how smelling rosemary could improve memory and was especially beneficial just before exams. It must be true as they both did really well!
The violas were just to look pretty and encourage them!