Balsamic and barbecue base pizza!

This recipe provides all you need to create 4 tasty pizza bases and sauce! Choose your own toppings or use the ones I suggest, either way this makes for a great meal!

Ingredients

For the dough

575g strong white bread flour

7g dried yeast

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

250 ml warm water

100 ml balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp dried basil

1 and 1/2 tbsp chilli flakes

3 tbsp red wine

For the sauce

3 medium cloves roasted garlic (place in an oven in tin foil with oil, salt and pepper at 150C fan or 170C for 1 hour until soft and starting to blacken)

Olive oil

150g diced onion

80g diced mushrooms

2 raw medium cloves of garlic

3 tbsp herbs de provence or mixed herbs

2 tbsp chopped chilli

1 tsp butter

3 tbsp barbecue sauce

1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 250g fresh chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp sugar

Splash of red wine

Beef stock pot or cube (you can use vegetarian stock cubes or pots instead)

2 tbsp tomato puree

Splash of milk

Toppings (recommended)

Bacon or prosciutto

Mozzarella

Mushrooms

Fresh basil

Drizzle of olive oil

Method

1. Add flour to a bowl and add the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl. Add the basil, sugar, garlic powder and chilli flakes to the centre of the bowl.

2. Add the warm water and mix together for a couple of seconds. Then add the red wine and mix again. And finally add the balsamic vinegar slowly whilst mixing until a wet dough forms.

3. Knead on a floured surface around 10 minutes until elastic and holding it's form, yet still slightly sticky.

4. Leave in a warm place covered for 1-2 hours or until roughly doubled.

5. Whilst the dough rises begin on the sauce. First roast your garlic according to the instructions. Then mince until fine and add to a pan with the onions on a medium heat with olive oil and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onions begin to brown.

6. Add the mushrooms, chilli, herbs, raw garlic and butter and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the barbecue sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes.

7. After this add the tomatoes along with the sugar, wine and stock and tomato puree. Once the stock is dissolved, add the milk and stir then reduce on medium heat for 20 minutes until thick and until the sauce clings to the ingredients.

8. Blend the sauce and leave to cool.

9. Preheat your oven to fan 220C/ conventional 240C. Then tear your dough into four balls and place on floured surface. Each will make one pizza so you can make all four or freeze the portioned dough for later (simply leave in the fridge for 24 hours before use, or out of the fridge depending on your freezer).

10. Roll out the portioned dough until between half a cm and a cm thick depending on your preference. This dough rises a fair amount in the oven so don't worry if this feels a little thin. Place onto a greased baking tray or onto greaseproof paper.

11. Spoon 2-3 tsp of your sauce onto the pizza base and spread evenly around, making sure to leave a small amount at the edge for the crust. Freeze or refrigerate (depending on when you are using the rest of the dough) any leftover sauce.

12. Add your toppings! If using the recommended toppings, sprinkle mozzarella onto the sauce and then top with the bacon/prosciutto and mushrooms, salt, pepper and a drizzle of oil. Bake in the oven for around 13-15 minutes for a thin base and 15-20 for a thicker base (reduce the temp to Fan 200C /conventional 220C) / or until the cheese and turned a nice golden brown and the crust has crisped up. An easy way to tell if your pizza is done is to lift up the pizza and look at the base. If it is fully cooked (makes a sharp noise when tapped, or makes a scraping sound when a knife is run along it) then remove. If it isn't then place in the oven for a couple more minutes on a lower temperature. (Be aware that pizza dough may not crisp in the centre depending on your topics and oven without a pizza dough, in this case it will still make a sound when tapped but it will be slightly less defined than the crust).

13. Enjoy! This recipe took a lot of tweaking, but I really like the way the balsamic vinegar colours the dough and adds a touch of flavour to it! The sauce is really punchy so use sparingly!

Signed A Shipwrecked Coffee Addict