Recipe Only: Pizza

Pancetta, Pesto, and Pomodoro Pizza

Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough – enough for 2 large pizzas or 4 small

• 500 g all purpose flour
• 1 g active dry yeast
• 16 g fine sea salt
• 350 g filtered water

1. Combine all ingredients in a lidded bowl (I used a 4-litre plastic ice-cream tub) with your hands or a wooden spoon until no pockets of flour remain.
2. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature to ferment for 18-21 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is. The dough is very forgiving, so don’t stress about the specifics.

Basil Pesto – makes about 1 cup

• handful of almonds, toasted
• 2 strips lemon zest
• 2 tbsp roasted garlic, or substitute 2 fresh garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp freshly grated parmiggiano reggiano
• 120 g fresh basil, roughly torn
• 1 tsp sea salt
• few grinds black pepper
• generous 1/2 c olive oil, plus more for sealing

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until finely textured.
2. Spoon into a small mason jar and pour in more olive oil to fully cover the top. Seal with the lid and refrigerate. It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Pancetta, Pesto, and Pomodoro Pizza – makes 1 pizza

• 1/2 recipe No-Knead Dough (above)
• 2 San Marzano tomatoes, fished out from the can
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 5 bocconcini, halved
• 5 slices pancetta
• 1 tbsp Basil Pesto (above)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• finely shredded basil, to finish

1. Preheat the oven to its highest setting or 525 degrees F. Place one rack as close as low as possible and the other as high up as possible. This will help you control the doneness of your crust and toppings later.
2. Sprinkle a generous layer of flour all over a baking sheet and fold the dough gently (using more flour as necessary) to form a smooth ball.
3. Stretch the dough out with your knuckles until it reaches the size of the pan. Fit it onto the floured pan. (This beautiful video will show you exactly what I mean.)
4. Crush the San Marzano tomatoes between your hands and let the juices drip onto the pizza dough. Break the tomato into small pieces and dot them all over the stretched dough.
5. Top with the bocconcini, cherry tomatoes, and pancetta slices in the order listed. Dot with pesto. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake on the bottom rack for 5-6 minutes, then transfer to the top rack to bake for another 6-7 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly, pancetta is crisp, and crust is lightly blistered and deep golden.
7. Top with shredded basil, slice, and serve immediately (with chili flakes if I may add).

Goes well with a massaged kale salad…in the next post!

In the comments below tell me: What are your favourite pizza topping combinations?