Pizza Oven Margherita

To make the dough, mix together the flour, yeast, salt and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the mix and pour in the water and olive oil. Bring the dough together with a spatula or hands until all the flour is incorporated into the dough. The dough will be quite soft and sticky at this stage.

Next turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth (alternatively you can use a electric mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes).

Lightly grease the mixing bowl with oil, put the dough back in, cover with a clean damp tea towel or an oiled piece of cling film and leave to rise in a warm place away from drafts, until doubled in size which will take approximately an hour.

Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the sauce into a small saucepan and gently bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside to cool.

When the dough is almost ready/full proved, light your wood-fired pizza oven. The ideal temperature for cooking is between 350C and 400C. Use an infra-red thermometer to ensure that the base and top of the oven is up to temperature.

To shape the pizzas lightly flour the worksurface and divide and shape the dough into two balls. Lightly flour your fingertips and use them to make dimples in the dough. Gently pull and turn, spreading out the dough until you have a 27 cm disc. Put the dough onto a pizza peel, dusted with flour to prevent sticking.

Once the pizza is on the wooden peel you need to work quickly so that it doesn’t stick; spread a layer of tomato sauce over the base leaving a 2 cm border around the edge. Tear half of the mozzarella over the pizza, arrange the cherry tomatoes on the base, drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper.

Safely push the fire and embers to the back off the oven with your metal pizza peel and check that the oven floor is at the correct temperature, before transferring the pizza peel to the oven. Slide the pizza quickly onto the oven floor to cook.

Carefully turn the pizza every 30 seconds using a metal peel so that it cooks evenly for about 2 minutes depending upon the thickness of the pizza. When your pizza is ready,  carefully remove from the oven with the metal peel.

Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the second batch of dough. Sprinkle some fresh basil leaves over the pizza before serving.

If you prefer, divide the dough into four pieces and make individual pizzas. If you like a thin crust, then just stetch the dough out further before topping.