Hugh's magic pizza bread

I couldn't help pilfering this recipe when I read it in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'Veg' book at Mother in law Spread's. What makes it magic you might well ask. Well, it is that apparently, this dough can be used to make a variety of breads; pizza bases, but also flatbreads, pittas and rolls. Today, I used it to make pizza bases. Although, I do plan on using this fantastically easy dough recipe to make the rest!


What you will need
250g plain flour
250g strong white flour
1 1/2 tea spoons salt
1 tea spoon instant dried yeast
1 table spoon oil
325ml warm water


Mix all the dry ingredients together then add the water. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes on a clean surface. It's meant to be a loose dough, so don't be tempted to add too much more flour (you'll do this later when rolling out). Add the oil to another bowl and place the dough in the bowl and coat with the oil to form a film.

Leave to rise for at least 1-2 hours to triple in size.

Then quarter or third and roll into three or four individually sized pizza bases. Make sure you dust flour as you go to stop the dough and eventual pizza base from sticking.

Load with toppings of your choice. The first time I made this pizza base, I topped with courgettes and ricotta. Bake for 8-12 minutes at 200 degrees until crisp on the bottom and lightly browned on top.