Perfect Pizza Dough: Thin and Crispy

There are two types of pizza dough I usually make. One makes a thicker, 'deep-pan' base and the other makes a thinner, crispier base for a more traditional pizza, and this is the recipe I will be going through now. To cook this base a pizza stone should be used.

• 650ml lukewarm water

• 1kg strong white bread flour 

• 40-50g fresh yeast, or 14g of dried yeast (fast action)

• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt

• 1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. In a separate jug mix the olive oil, warm water and yeast, mix well and allow to sit for a few minutes. Make a well in the flour and pour your yeast mixture into the well. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. 

Once the mixture has come together, remove from the bowl and set on a clean, floured surface and knead with your hands until you have a smooth dough.

Line the inside of a clean bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil, put the dough in the bowl, sprinkle with flour and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Leave to stand until it has doubled in size. About an hour.

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and knead slightly to 'knock the dough back'. It's now ready to use. Never use a rolling pin on your pizza dough because it will take the air out of it. Use your hands to stretch the dough out as thin as you want it (if its not a perfect circle don't worry, it will look more rustic if its not ;)).

Pre-heat your oven or BBQ to its hottest setting and place your pizza stone inside to heat up (Its important that you don't take the stone out to put your pizza on, just slide the pizza onto the stone in the oven/BBQ. to keep as much heat in the stone as possible).

Spread your ingredients however you like them. Slide onto your pizza stone. Cooking time is between 8-10 minutes. 

Hope this was helpful to all those pizza lovers out there!

Review: Pizza Stone

Being a massive pizza lover I made it my mission to perfect the homemade pizza. As i'm sure many of you know this is not an easy thing to do, because a conventional oven will usually max out at 220 degress C. The answer to your pizza prayers is the pizza stone. A thin ceramic stone you put in your oven (I use a BBQ but ill go into that later) to heat up, and place your pizza on to cook. Heating the pizza from above and below ensures you aren't left with a soggy mess. A must have for any pizza lover.

Tempering Chocolate

Okay so this quite an advanced technique, but it will give a much more professional look (and the satisfying snap) to your chocolate treats. If might take you a few tries to get it perfect but keep at it because the end product is well worth the effort. Pretty soon you'll be a true chocolatier.

Make sure you use the best chocolate you can afford (don't buy the chocolate drops because these will have additives to help them hold their shape at a higher temperature and the chocolate wont temper properly).

1. Set up a double boiler (a bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water) with a thermometer ready to measure the temperature of the chocolate.

2. Take about 3/4 of your chocolate and put it in the double boiler. Try to resist the temptation to stir and fiddle with the chocolate as it melts.

3. Watch the temperature of the chocolate carefully. When it reaches 44-48 degrees C take it off the heat quickly and add the remaining 1/4 of your chocolate (the reason we do this is to reduce the temperature of the melted chocolate) and stir in until the temperature comes back down to 28 degrees C. Remove any lumps of chocolate that have not fully melted.

4. Now once more return the melted chocolate to the double boiler and bring the temperature back up to 32 degrees C.

While you are still using the chocolate try and keep it constant at 32 degrees C. Your chocolate is now tempered and can be manipulated into whatever shape takes your fancy.

Happy cooking chocolatiers! I would love to know how people get on!

Tricks of the Trade

I recently had the pleasure of working on a super-yacht in Monaco, cooking alongside a very talented young chef for the crew of thirteen. As well as cooking exciting dishes for the crew it was a chance for me to get really creative. With a wealth of ingredients at my disposal I was in my element to say the least. I learned a few tricks and recipes I'll be passing on to fellow foodies.

Perfect Roast Potatoes

These perfect roast potatoes are a necessity for the Christmas dinner. So many people struggle when trying to make their roasties lovely and crispy, when its so simple to do, and something everyone should know how to make.

Ingredients:

- 2.5Kg Potatoes

- 300ml Goose fat

- 100g Semolina

- Pre-heat the oven to its highest setting (ideally around 250-260C)

- Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks, as big or small as you like them.

- Boil the potatoes for four minutes then drain the saucepan.

- Add the goose fat to a baking tray and put in the oven to heat up.

- Add the semolina to the potatoes in the saucepan and give them a good shake to blur and roughen up the edges (these fluffy edges are what are going to give the crunch).

- Once the goose fat is hot, put the potatoes into the baking tray and put straight back into the oven.

- Cook for 25 minutes then turn over and cook for a further 25 minutes.

You should have the perfect accompaniment to your Christmas dinner. Perfect crispy roast potatoes.

Willie's Chocolate Revolution

Some of you may have seen this programme on TV a little while ago. But for those that haven't, its a programme about Willie Harcourt-Cooze - chocolate fanatic and chef - tying to show us (the British) what chocolate really is. Not the typically sweet milky 'rubbish' you will find in supermarkets, but real cacao, not refined beyond recognition. The programme shows Willie's journey to find the perfect cacao for his new chocolate bars. Once he finds the Venezuelan and Peruvian cacao beans, he goes about turning them into the perfect chocolate bars. You can watch the three episodes here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tJRhSw7L3c.

Have a look at his site dedicated to the chocolate he has made. Why not treat yourself to a bar? I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate but Willies chocolate is delicious. You can buy his chocolate on his site, http://www.williescacao.com/.

Here is Willie with his Christmas turkey recipe, a quirky take on the traditional turkey dinner.

Prawn Stir Fry

This is a great healthy recipe from Jo Pratt. So tasty and quick to make. I end up making stir fry a lot because being a student means i don't always have time to spend two hours in the kitchen slaving away. If your a stir fry lover then you will love this recipe.