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!

Easy Peasy French Onion Soup

This is a lovely winter warmer recipe - cheap, quick, filling and has that air of domestic goddess about it. I came across it a few years ago and it has become a favourite to prepare prior to a Sunday walk to serve with cheesy garlic bread on our return. Of course, Miss Frugal- the very fussy 8 year old- has declared war on onions so I keep a tin of tomato soup in the cupboard for this very occasion! This should serve four, I find it only serves 2/3 but I have been called greedy before so I would take a 'suck it and see' approach.

Ingredients

1kg Brown onions - basic/value ones are fine
Red wine, small glass - optional but tasty
2 x stock pots/cubes
Drizzle of oil (to cook onions)
Rosemary and Thyme
Squeeze of garlic puree


Method

1, Peel the onions and cut them into medium rings
2, Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan
3, Cook the onions on a medium-high heat until caramel coloured and sticky
4, Add garlic puree and herbs and a tiny dash more oil (if needed)
5, Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until flavours absorbed and onions are browned
6, Add wine and cook for 5 minutes until wine has reduced
7, Add 2 x stock pots/cubes diluted in 300ml boiling water
8, Simmer soup for a further 10-15 minutes
9, Taste, serve, enjoy.

TIP: Do not use red onions, you will end up with grey soup!

TIP: Fresh garlic can be used but I find the garlic puree so much easier, stays fresh longer and doesn't leave little lumps of garlic through the soup.

Ps, I will be putting my homemade garlic spread recipe on here- great on left over uncut bread/part baked rolls/any bread you have with this soup.

If this recipe is in any way unclear please let me know- I can adapt it. I need all the feedback I can get for these baby steps :)