Pizza Margherita

I really like the wholemeal flour from Bronte Organics (54 MacPherson Street) - it's so much tastier than white flour. But when you are trying to make pizza dough, it doesn't have enough gluten to make a nice smooth springy dough. Next time I'll have to try mixing it with some other strong white baking flour to give the yeast something more to work with.

Home-made pizza definitely tastes better when you put a little bit of effort into making a nice sauce. The sauce was made from three 400g cans of while italian tomatoes, two large eshallots, garlic, 1 small chilli, paprika and a big spoon of tomato paste. Simmer for 20 minutes and ideally prepare it the day before.

Home ovens generally aren't as hot as pizza ovens used in pizzerias. One way to get a bit more heat is to use pizza stones or terracotta tiles place on the racks in the oven. The best results come from the pizzas that are cooked on top of one tile with a tile sitting on the rack above it since the upper tile radiates heat back onto the top of the pizza. Terracotta tiles can be bought at Bunnings for less than $5 each but I managed to crack one of mine. Maybe a thicker tile would be better.