Harts Kitchen
Learn by Harts : A Pizza Heaven
For the ultimate pizza , hand make it yourself and start measuring up a space for a wood-fired oven ,
says outdoor cooking expert Genevieve Taylor
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Low-knead pizza dough nly one thing tastes better than pizza . Wood-fired oven pizza . There have been scientific papers written on why ( it ’ s the carbon atoms from the wood that circulate inside the oven apparently ) but you only need a slice to taste the difference . What was once the preserve of only the most authentic Italian pizza restaurants that you ’ d probably have to be on holiday in Italia to experience , the wood-fired oven is now everywhere , from trendy restaurants to gastropubs to the back of trucks at festivals .
Increasingly , they are now in back gardens too . There are high-end models you can have installed or with the aid of some bricks , clay and YouTube , building your own over a weekend or two is an option .
Whatever it takes to deliver the high temperatures that make the best pizza in a matter of minutes is worth it . As well as winning any barbecue , you can also cook a surprising variety of other foods in it , as outdoor cooking enthusiast Genevieve Taylor shows in The Ultimate Wood-Fired Oven
Cookbook . But we find it hard to concentrate on any other food once the prospect of pizza has been floated . Here ’ s her foolproof way for making a world-class wood-fired pizza which will work just as well in a hot , conventional oven – perfect for persuading your other half that you need one on the patio .
This is the pizza dough I have come to swear by , and it ’ s based on a recipe from Dan Lepard ’ s excellent baking book , Short and Sweet . It ’ s the easiest recipe ever , requiring practically no kneading , just a few gentle pushes and pulls of the dough on an oiled worktop , which feels heavenly , like squishing a supersoft , warm feather pillow . In fact , most of the bread I ever make now follows Dan ’ s minimal knead method . The second prove , after shaping the dough into balls , is essential to allow the gluten to relax , meaning you can gently flatten the dough balls into large thin bases without the dough springing back on itself . This recipe makes enough dough for 8 large pizzas – simply halve it if you are feeding fewer people . If you are feeding more , make separate batches in two bowls , otherwise , it will be too unwieldy .
Ingredients
900g ( 6½ cups ) strong white bread flour , plus more for shaping and stretching the dough 2 tsp fast-action yeast 2 tsp fine salt 600ml ( 2½ cups ) hand-hot water 4 tbsp olive oil , plus more for working the dough
Method
Put the flour , yeast and salt into a mixing bowl and stir together . Pour in the water and oil , mixing until you have a shaggy mass with no loose flour . Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to stand for 10 minutes . Lightly oil a good-sized patch of worktop and rub a little oil on to your hands . Scrape the dough out on to the worktop , then scrape any loose bits out of the bowl and rub a little oil around the inside , setting it aside ready for the dough to go back in .
Very lightly knead the dough for just 10 seconds – one gentle push-and-pull is 1 second . Treat the dough with kid gloves , you don ’ t need to pummel it . Lift the dough into the oiled bowl , re-cover and leave for 10 more minutes . Repeat the gentle 10-second knead with a 10-minute rest two more times , then cover and leave until risen by 50 percent . This will take an hour or so , depending on the room temperature . If you want to leave it longer , it will happily sit in the fridge for 4 – 6 hours . Remove from the fridge an hour before you want to shape it , so it comes up to room temperature . Now you can move on to making sauces and organizing your equipment .
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