Copycat Pizza Express Pizza
Method
Step 1:
If baking with a pizza stone, pre-heat the stone in the oven for at least 30 minutes for a crispy base. Alternatively, preheat your oven to it’s highest temperature setting and heat a baking sheet for at least 15 minutes.
Step 2:
To make the pizza dough; stir the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the water and olive oil.
Step 3:
Bring the dough together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated. The dough will be quite sticky and soft.
Step 4:
Next turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth. For a thin and crisp pizza bake the dough straight away. Alternatively for a thicker, more open texture, cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let it rise between 30-60 minutes.
Step 5:
To shape the pizzas lightly flour the worksurface, divide and shape the dough into two balls. Roll each ball of dough out into 2 x 30 cm discs using a rolling pin.
Step 6:
Place the dough onto a wooden pizza peel (basically a large pizza spatula) or lightly floured baking sheet. Leave the second piece of dough to one side until the first pizza is cooked.
Step 7:
Once the pizza base is on the peel or baking sheet you will need to work quickly so that it doesn’t stick; spread a layer of passata over the base leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Sprinkle over the oregano and tear half of the mozzarella over pizza. If you are creating a half and half pizza, then top one half with ham and pineapple and the other with pepperoni and a sprinkling of chilli flakes. Drizzle over some olive oil and season with black pepper.
Step 8:
Carefully transfer the pizza onto your preheated pizza stone or hot baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp and golden. Meanwhile shape and top the second pizza with the remaining ingredients and when ready to cook transfer onto the hot pizza stone/baking sheet.
