Pizza with Chargrilled Peppers and Olives / Pizza con Peperoni Grigliati e Olive

Servings: 8
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“Ideal for sharing, this is a large, almost focaccia-style pizza which is perfect for a night in with friends or family.” Gino D’Acampo. “This recipe will make a pizza base which is soft and chewy with a crisp crust”. Maxine Clark

Credit: Adapted from recipes by Maxine Clark in her book “The Italian Country Table – simple recipes for trattoria classics” and Gino D’Acampo in his book “Gino’s Veg Italia”.

Ingredients

500 g Italian ‘00’ grade flour or unbleached plain/all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
15 g compressed fresh yeast OR 1 tablespoon active dried yeast OR 1 x 7 gm sachet of fast action dried yeast
300 ml of hand hot water
2 teaspoons of fine salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
300 g Italian passata (sieved tomatoes)
290 g mixed chargrilled peppers in a jar, drained and sliced
20 pitted green olives, rinsed and drained
100 g vegetarian Italian goats (preferred) or pecorino cheese, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other. Make a well in the centre and add the oil then gradually pour in 300ml warm water and mix together using the handle of a wooden spoon. When thoroughly mixed into a ball shape transfer to a clean and dry wooden chopping board.
Use your hands and knead the dough on the lightly floured board surface for about 10 minutes or until soft, smooth and elastic. If you feel the dough is sticky, flour your hands, not the dough.
Shape the dough into a neat round ball and place in a large oiled bowl. Brush the top with a little oil. Cover with cling film or a damp kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm, draught-free place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Brush a large non-stick rimless baking tray, measuring about 30 x 32cm, with oil and set aside.
Uncover the dough and transfer it onto a lightly floured chopping board surface, knead just 3 or 4 times to knock out the air and roll into a circle 25 cm to 30 cm in diameter. Alternatively, using your fingertips, gently flatten the dough to extend to the sides (it should be about 1cm thick). Transfer to the oiled baking tray. Press your fingertips into the dough to create indentations. Brush over a little oil, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise again in a warm place for a further 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 425°F / gas mark 6.
Remove the kitchen towel and make more indentations in the dough. Spread over the passata, leaving a 1cm border all round. Scatter the peppers and olives over the passata and sprinkle over the oregano. Arrange the goat’s or pecorino cheese slices evenly over the pizza base, season with grated salt and drizzle the top with the extra virgin olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese melted and bubbling. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.
Move the pizza to a serving board and sprinkle with cracked black pepper.
Cut into slices with a pizza wheel blade and serve while still warm.

Marilyn and Keith have used this recipe to make the pizza and this is their review:

“We found this recipe very clear and easy to follow, it took some time to find the ingredients in the supermarket as we were not used to using these ingredients in our usual recipes. Making the dough was fun and we found the texture really good. However Keith wasn’t keen on the topping and I found the flavours a bit strong so next time we would change them slightly, but overall enjoyed it very much.”

Darliene and Gottfried have reviewed this recipe: “It was delicious. I used Italian goats’ cheese.”