Get a pizza the action with these tasty recipes from Dunmore House in west Cork
With the Boatshed Pizza venue about to reopen at the hotel, Paolo Chiappa shares his perfect technique for this crowd-pleaser
Pizza is a real crowd pleaser and great for family gatherings, parties or simple family supper. The pizza dough and tomato sauce can be made in advance and freeze really well too. These recipes will work whether you have a woodburning pizza oven or are using your kitchen oven.
Paolo’s classic pizza dough
Ingredients
1kg type 0 flour
550ml water, at room temperature
45g salt
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
10g fresh yeast
Method
1. Dissolve the yeast in the water.
2. Mix the flour with the salt, then gently add the water and oil to the flour, and knead until the dough is smooth.
3. Divide into 200g balls, and leave to rise for two hours.
4. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into large rounds, about 30cm across, using a rolling pin. The dough needs to be thin as it will rise in the oven.
5. If you have a pizza oven, pre-heat it to 400C and cook pizza for three to four minutes
6. If you are using a conventional oven, it’s best to use a pizza stone to help with the cooking process; these are available in most good home/kitchen stores. Preheat the oven to 250C with the pizza stone inside. Slide the pizza onto the piping hot stone in the oven and bake for seven to eight minutes.
Simple tomato sauce
You can halve the recipe to make a smaller quantity. This is a simple tomato sauce but feel free to add some roasted garlic or chili flakes depending on your taste.
Ingredients
1 kg fine tomato pulp – buy the best you can afford
1 tbs sea salt
2 tbs oregano, fresh if you can get it but dried will work fine too
5 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Method
1. Simply add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
To make a margherita pizza
Cover the pizza base in tomato sauce leaving an inch around the sides for the crust. Scatter over generously with mozzarella – we like to use Toonsbridge – then bake as above. Garnish with three to four leaves of fresh basil.
To make an Italiana pizza
Cover the pizza base in tomato sauce leaving approximately an inch around the sides for the crust Add five to six slices of Toonsbridge buffalo mozzarella, then halve five to ten cherry tomatoes and spread evenly across the pizza. Tear a few slices of Parma ham and scatter across. Bake as above, and when your pizza comes out of the oven add a generous handful of rocket and a few eaves of fresh basil.
Boatshed Pizza at Dunmore House reopens on May 17, and runs six days a week from 12pm to 7.30pm, closed on Tuesdays. For more visit dunmorehousehotel.ie
