Quick pizza dough recipe- pizza ready in half an hour!

This is the quickest and easiest dough recipe ever. And, as an added bonus, it tastes damn good! You can have this pizza on the table, including making the dough in under half an hour. It is a simple and tasty crowd pleaser!

Ingredients

375g plain flour
1 heaped dessert spoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 7g sachet of fast action yeast
2 tablespoons oil of your choice
225ml warm water

Method

• Put the flour in a large bowl- as you can see I used cheap flour and it worked fine

• Add all caster sugar and salt

• Sprinkle in fast action yeast

• Add oil and warm water and mix it all up with a large spoon

• Until it starts to come together. Add more flour if too sloppy or more oil if the mixture won't come together

• Then knead on a floured surface until the dough forms a neat ball

And that is it! It is now ready to use. If you have time you can pop it in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for an hour or two. Then when it has doubled 'knock it back' (which just means give it a quick knead) and you are set. But, I have done it both ways and even without the rising this dough tastes wonderful so please don't be afraid to use it straight away.

Topping the pizza

I use a combination of tomato puree and tomato ketchup usually. Although I have used BBQ sauce, passata with herbs and a garlic butter. The choice is yours!

I make this pizza on those occasions when I have a random few bits and bobs in the fridge to use up. 3 mushrooms, half an onion, a tin of tuna and one tomato won't make a meal but it will make a pizza! Use anything and everything you have. I recently experimented with sun dried tomato, spinach and cheese (as that's what I had left over) I added the tomato base and dolloped pesto on top before popping in the oven. 

Cook on GM 5/190 C for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven and the toppings you choose.

This is the finished products from the above amount of dough. Enjoy!

Tortilla wraps, cheap n easy- ideal for these snowy days when you cannot buy bread for love nor money!

I must admit to being a cheat. A complete, unashamed cheat. I was going to make these tortilla wraps and pop them on the blog with some decent pics. I really was. But it is still snowy and very very cold and I have run out of flour. Worse I have run out of the energy to go to the shop to get more. Plus, I have a loaf of bread in the freezer so I have convinced myself that it would not be frugal to make them anyway. But, at some point this week I will make them- and put lots of pictures up. In the meantime I am using a google image for illustration. They really are simple to make, wonderful warm and fab for packed lunches.

Ingredients

250g plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon butter (although I have used oil in the absence of butter and they have been just as nice)
100ml warm water

Method

1, mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
2, add butter and mix with fingers until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs
3, add water until dough forms a ball. If it is still too dry add more water drop by drop. The dough should be wet enough to form into a ball but not so wet that it doesn't hold shape.
4, knead the dough for 3 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Put dough back in bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 15minutes.
5, separate into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a circular shape. The circles won't be perfect- use a plate or cutter if you need them spot on.
6, heat a non stick pan- no oil- and add the uncooked tortilla. Cook on first side for a minute or two until brown bubbles form, flip and repeat on other side.

Serve with literally anything, left over chicken and salad, chilli com carne, cheese and shredded chicken, curry, etc. I have popped them in packed lunch with chunks of cheese and baby tomatoes and cucumber slices as a finger food lunch. One word of warning, these break easier than shop bought, it might just be because I do not knead enough or I'm missing something. This isn't an issue for us, more an observation.

I live by the motto that cooking doesn't need to be all about fancy recipes. Having a few little tricks up your sleeve to feed the family is resourceful, important, frugal, rewarding and always necessary. I aim to become more self sufficient in 2013 so next on the agenda is making my own bread!