Isn't pizza supposed to be round?

Made this a while ago, it has just taken me a long time to write it up. It is probably worth the wait, however.
Don't be put off by the picture - that was my first attempt, and I have since improved with practice.

This makes a single 10-inch diameter (more or less) pizza.

Unlike most bread recipes, pizza dough doesn't have a second rising (proving); it all happens in the oven.

For the dough:

• 200g strong white flour
• Half teaspoon honey
• Half teaspoon salt
• Half teaspoon dried yeast
• Half tablespoon olive oil
• 80ml (or so) warm water

This dough tends to be a little stickier than normal bread dough, which makes hand kneading a little difficult (or so I found); so the food mixer was brought to bear on the problem.

All ingredients (including half the water) were combined in the mixer, for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Water was then gradually added through the funnel at the top, allowing about ten seconds between each slurp, to see how it reacted. Once the dough comes away from the walls, and just starts going round in a single blob, stop adding water. The whole thing should take about 3 minutes.

Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes, then push it down onto the blades with a spatula and then run the machine again for about a minute.

Remove from the mixer and form into a ball.

(If you have to do this by hand, mix as much as possible in a bowl, until it can be handled by well-floured hands without falling apart, then knead as normal bread dough for about ten minutes - but remember it must be somewhat softer than usual dough, and keep your hands well-floured. Form into a ball.)

Squirt a couple of sprays of olive oil into a freezer bag, then place the dough inside. The dough could also be brushed or sprayed with oil - the whole point is to stop it sticking to the bag.

The bag (in theory) could then be put in the freezer - and ought to be good for a month. Bring it out the night before cooking and leave in the refrigerator to thaw.
For cooking later the same day, it can be left in the fridge until a couple of hours before you intend baking.

But allow at least an hour (preferably two) for the dough to rise at room temperature. It is preferable that it be given time to double in size, but that isn't essential - most of the expansion (leavening?) takes place in the oven.

The sauce:

• Half of a 400g/12oz tin chopped or peeled tomatoes
• 2 heaped teaspoon sundried tomato paste
• 2 heaped teaspoon tomato pureé (may be OTT for some)
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil (or half teasspoon dried)
• Half teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:

• Mozarella cheese - grated (one ball - 125g/4 oz - should be about right)

I would strongly advise that you remove as much liquid as possible from the tinned tomatoes before adding them - otherwise you get a very watery sauce. I used a sieve to drain off most of the water. The alternative is to use more sundried or pureé, but then the taste of tomato may be overpowering. No need to cook anything, just mix the sauce ingredients. The mozarella is a little difficult to handle, but a decent sharp grater, or even a slicer should provide enough bits of cheese to spread evenly over the whole pizza.

Preparation:

Once you have allowed the dough to rise (after defrosting, if it has been frozen), prepare a lightly-floured board on which to work the dough. It should have expanded a little during rising, so literally 'punch it down' - a very satisfying exercise, really just knocking the gas out of it.

I can't do the 'chuck the dough in the air and watch it come down as a perfectly round pizza shape' - hence the title of this piece - so I resort to sort of hanging the dough by one edge and let it stretch under its own weight, then move the edge in your hands (left or right, but consistently), so that another bit can stretch, and so on until you have a roughly 10-inch circle. Try to make sure that the edges stay a wee bit thicker than the middle; otherwise you sauce will all run away! This is the main reason that the dough should be damper than the usual bread base, where this stretching won't really work.

To complete it, I place the dough on greased, greaseproof (parchment) paper - over which I have sprinkled corn meal or fine polenta - on a flat board without raised edges - the reason for which becomes obvious shortly. Then with a small glass jar (oiled) roll out the middle to be a little thinner, and keep the edges a little thicker. If you have a very small rolling pin, even a child's one, that would work equally well. This part is down to technique, trial and error - and preference in terms of pastry thickness. If you get the perfect pizza first time - tell us all how you did it!

If you have a pizza stone, put it into the oven, or use a flat baking sheet, and heat the oven to 450/500 F (Gas Mark 8/9 - 230/250 C) on the bottom or second from bottom shelf. Be sure that it has attained the proper temperature before going on (use a separate oven thermometer if you aren't certain when temperature has been reached), as the pizza will only be in the oven for about six/seven minutes.

Spread the sauce mixture gently over the middle part of the dough, trying to keep it off what will become the crust; then sprinkle the grated (or sliced) cheese regularly over the surface. The available choice of toppings is immense, so you can be as creative as you wish!

Now remove the heated stone or sheet from the oven, place on a heatproof surface, and slide the whole pizza, with the parchment/greasproof paper, from the board onto the hot sheet/stone. Brush the crust part with olive oil, if you like.
Pop the stone/sheet back into the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it every couple of minutes, and remove it when the cheese looks properly melted and the crust is just browning. It takes 6 minutes in my oven, but you may find you need a couple of minutes either way.

Remove, slice and eat! Enjoy. As mentioned earlier, the picture shown was my first attempt - so don't be discouraged if it doesn't look like it came from Pizza Hut .......

I have another variation on this (using a sourdough base and more toppings) which I'll try later and report on.