Could it actually happen?
Dare we dream?
Is the unlikely about to become likely?
After all, we have waited so long haven’t we?
No, we are not talking about ‘Freedom Day’ on 19th July but the little matter of a European Championship final in a few days time.
And what a final it’s going to be.
Imagine if rather than meeting each other on the football field, the game was decided on the strength of each country’s foods?
Now that would be a nail-biter, hopefully not like Sunday when we are all hoping Gareth’s men do it the easy way (although without wanting to jinx anything, there have been no penalty shootouts involving England. Yet.”
Spaghetti Bolognese vs Fish and Chips
Pizza vs Shepherd’s Pie
Tiramisu vs Jam Roly Poly
Espresso vs Tea
Birra Moretti vs Carling
The list could go on and on and each time you would probably declare it a draw, but without the agony of penalties.
So, it seems fitting to end this blog with another food mash up which thankfully was a bit easier to put together than last week’s. After all, you don’t get many Ukrainian restaurants in the UK to take inspiration from.
We’re obviously hoping that it is coming home on Sunday night, but regardless of the result, football and food will be the winner.
In Bocca Al Lupo/Good Luck to both teams.
England V Italy Pizza Hybrid
Anti-Pasta Selection:
- Parma Ham
- Olives
- Sundried tomatoes
- Rocket
- Fresh Basil
- Buffalo Mozzarella
- Salami
- Provolone Cheese
Garlic Dip:
• 1/2 Cup of Sour Cream
• 1/2 Cup of Mayonnaise
• 1 Garlic Clove Minced
• 1tsp finely chopped herbs (parsley, coriander etc.)
Method:
Pour the Mayonnaise in to a bowl with the sour cream. Mince your garlic clove and the add to the cream. Also finely chop the herbs and add to the cream. Stir and serve best with vegetables.
Sour Dough Pizza Base Traditional Italian:
No matter what kind of dough you’re making – whether it’s for pizza or otherwise – a key part of prepping sourdough-based recipes is maintaining your sourdough starter Keep your starter in a jar on your kitchen countertop, covered with a lid or a cloth with an elastic band wrapped around the opening. If you’re using your starter regularly to make dough, it’s best to feed it with water and flour every 1-2 days to keep it alive and active, so it’s ready to use anytime. To feed it, add equal parts flour (the same flour your starter is based on) and water to the starter and mix until fully incorporated. The starter will grow every time you do this, so each time you’ll need to remove a little bit of the starter before adding the fresh flour and water.
If you need to leave your starter at home for a while or are unable to feed it for a period of time, seal it and place it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. The cold temperature will make the starter go dormant, so it doesn’t need to be fed during that time. When you’re ready to use it again, continue feeding it every 1-2 days as normal.
Making sourdough pizza (makes 4 x 12″ pizzas):
For the levain mix:
- 50g (1.8oz) mature sourdough starter
- 50g (1.8oz) 00 flour, or bread flour
- 50g (1.8oz) whole grain flour
- 100g (3.5oz) warm water
For the final mix:
- 425g (15oz) 00 flour, or bread flour
- 75g (2.6oz) whole grain flour
- 310g (10.9oz) warm water
- 10g (0.4oz) salt
- 200g (7oz) levain mix
- Olive oil, for lining the proving container
- Flour, for dusting the work surface
Method:
- Note that you’ll need to start in advance, preparing this recipe by the morning of the day before you want to cook pizza. You’ll also need to have your active, mature sourdough starter ready to go – it’s mature when you’ve been feeding it regularly in the days leading up to starting this recipe.
- To make the levain mix, take a tall jar and combine the 50g of sourdough starter with the flour and water. Mix until fully incorporated. Cover and leave to sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or until doubled in size. A nice trick is to put a rubber band around the jar where the line of the levain is when you mix it, so you can check how much it’s growing and be sure that’s doubled.
- Once the levain mix is ready, it’s time to make the final mix. In a large bowl, dissolve the salt into the water. Stir it until it’s completely dissolved. Add the 200 grams of levain mix, and stir until dissolved. Slowly add the flours, and mix together using your hands. The key is to incorporate the flour slowly so that the dough hydrates fully. Leave to rest on your kitchen countertop uncovered for 10 minutes before beginning the initial kneading
- Once rested, dust your work surface with flour and begin to knead the dough. If kneading by hand, use the palm of your hand and push the dough in a forward motion to the point that it is almost tearing. Pull the dough back onto itself, rotate it, and push with your palm again. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, you can also knead the dough using a stand mixer – mix the dough on low speed for 10-15 minutes, then at a higher speed for 5-10 minutes. The dough is finished kneading when it’s smooth, bouncy and its shape bounces back after pressing into the dough with your fingers – this means the gluten structure has developed and the dough is giving some resistance. You should be able to squeeze it and pull it without any tearing. On your work surface, tighten up the dough by tucking the edge of your hand under the dough and pulling it towards you, moving your way around the edge of the dough to keep tucking the edges underneath. This will help to smooth out the surface of the dough and ensure an even fermentation.
- Bulk ferment the dough by adding a little olive oil to a large bowl or tub, spreading it around using your fingers to coat the container. Place the dough inside and cover with a cloth or the lid, and leave to bulk ferment at room temperature on your kitchen countertop for 3 hours. The dough is finished bulk fermenting when it’s at least doubled in size and has lots of air bubbles appearing under the surface.
- Portion the dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces, depending on the size of your pizza. Shape each piece of dough into a ball using the same technique as tightening up the bulk dough – place the dough piece on the countertop and pull it towards you from the edge furthest away from you, tucking the edge of your hand under the dough. Keep doing this around the edge of the and pulling it towards you, moving your way around the edge of the dough piece until it’s smooth and round. Once shaped, dust a proving tray with flour or line a baking tray with parchment (baking) paper, and place the pizza dough balls on the tray. Cover with a cloth or the tray’s lid and place inside the fridge to cold prove overnight for 24 hours
- Stretch, top & cook your pizzas!Once the cold prove has finished, bring the pizza dough balls back up to room temperature by removing them from the fridge and leaving the tray on your kitchen countertop for around 2 hours. It’s important they’re at room temperature before you start stretching the pizza dough, or it will be too tight and impossible to stretch. Once they’re ready to go, stretch, top and cook your pizzas.
Prepare your toppings (Italian flag)
- Pesto
- Basil
- Rocket
- Buffalo mozzarella
- Grated mozzarella
- Cherry tomatoes
- Sundried tomatoes
- Pizza Sauce
Take your sour dough base use the pizza sauce spread evenly around the edges make sure you cover the base. Next sprinkle your grated mozzarella thinly covering the base, look at splitting the base into 3 sections, green, white & red
green – spoon few teaspoons of pesto on to the left side.
Cut the buffalo mozzarella into thin slices & split it into small pieces and fill the centre strip. Cut the cherry tomato into half and place on the right hand side, add the sundried tomato and place in the oven on 200 for 15min place on a wire rack to insure the base cooks. Wash off some extra rocket and basil to place on the pesto when it comes out the oven.
(England flag)
- Grated Mozzarella
- Buffalo Mozzarella
- Pizza sauce
- Hot peperoni slices
- Mild pepperoni slices
- Sundried tomatoes
Take your prepared base cover with pizza sauce and sprinkle the grated mozzarella place the pepperoni in half and make a line down the middle and then half way again slice the buffalo mozzarella and place in the four corners, take the sundried tom and place over the peperoni place in the oven 200 for 15min on a wire rack Check the base is cooked when you take it out and enjoy.
Kids hotdog crust pizza
- Ready to top pizza base
- Frankfurter chopped into 1” pieces (roughly 8 sausages)
- Pizza Sauce 100g
- Grated mozzarella 100g
- Extra Mature Cheddar 40g
- Pinch Salt
- Pinch Pepper
Method:
Unroll the pizza base following packet instructions. Place paper sheet with pizza base on, on top of a baking tray. Then cut all around the edges approx. 1.5” slits from outside in. Place a piece of hotdog in the middle of 2 slits in the pastry and fold it over the hotdog. Rolling inwards on the pizza. Tuck the pastry under the hotdog and continue this all around the edges until each slit of pastry encases a piece of hotdog and the whole pizza has a round hotdog crust.
Then spread pizza sauce in the middle of the pizza base, up to the edges of the hotdog and pastry crust. Sprinkle pizza sauce with extra mature cheese and then the mozzarella, covering the whole centre of the pizza base. Season with salt and pepper.
Using a pastry brush, brush the pastry and hotdog edge with whisked egg for a golden finish once baked. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes at 185c.
London Pizza:
- Pizza base ready to roll
- Pizza sauce
- Grated mozzarella
- Fresh Mozzarella ball
- Salt
- Pepper
- Parmigiano-Reggiano grated
- Triple fried chips
Method:
Unroll the pizza base and coat evenly with pizza sauce. Then sprinkle with the grated mozzarella, tear up ½ of the ball of mozzarella and spread evenly over the pizza base. Then sprinkle with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 185c. Once fully cooked and cheese bubbling cover the base with a layer of triple fried chips.
Triple Fried Chips:
- Deep fat fryer
- Whole potatoes
- Pan of lightly salted water
Method:
Peel and square off each potato and slice into even chips. Place chips into cold salted water and slowly bring to the boil. Set a timer for a few minutes at a time as you only want just softening potato. This doesn’t take long, depending on how many potatoes you chip. Drain and leave to one side to dry off. Heat the oil in the fryer to 140C and fry the chips for 3 minutes. Drain and set to one side. Approx. 20 minutes later set the fryer to 180C and fry the chips again for 3 minutes. Then set to one side again to cool.
Pizza Sauce
- Tomato paste 180g
- Oil 20g
- Passata 180g
- Salt 2g
- Pepper 1g
- Garlic puree 5g
- Basil 4g
- Oregano 2g
- Red wine vinegar 20g
- Sugar 5g
Method:
Place all ingredients together in a pan and bring to boil, stirring continuously. Turn heat down to simmer for 2 minutes. Still stirring continuously. Chill the sauce ready to be pizza base.
About Sean Flint
Development & Innovation Chef of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
