Though using beer for pizza dough might sound radical, it's just a straightforward way to add malt. If you replace the beer with water, think about adding 1 tbsp malt extract or brown sugar to help the crust colour quickly. Italian "00" flour makes a softer dough than the same weight of strong white flour, so if you're using the latter you might want to add a little more liquid.
Pizza dough
Makes 5 x 200g balls
200ml warm water
175ml beer, at room temperature
7g (1 sachet) fast-action yeast
50ml olive oil
600g Italian "00" flour, or strong white flour
2 tsp salt
Tomato sauce
Your choice of toppings
1 Pour the water and beer into a large mixing bowl, then whisk in the yeast. Add the oil, flour and salt and mix to a dough. For an extra-soft dough, take the beer to 200ml (even more with strong flour). This makes the pizzas trickier to shape but gives a lighter, crisper crust.
2 Leave the dough for 10 minutes then lightly knead it for 10 seconds on an oiled worktop, stopping when it starts to stick. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave for 90 minutes in a coolish room. To store some for later, either keep covered in a bowl or ziplock bag for a few days in the fridge or cut into portions and freeze on a tray lined with baking paper. Thaw or bring to room temperature before using.
3 To make the finished crumb even lighter, stretch and fold the dough. This technique, which you can use on bread dough too, will increase the size of the air bubbles in your dough. Oil the worktop once more, dimple the dough out into a rectangle, then pull one side of the dough out and fold it back in upon itself. Do the same with the other side, then rotate the dough through 90 degrees and repeat the dimple, stretch and fold steps once more. Return the dough to the bowl to rest for 30 minutes.
4 Divide the dough into five 200g pieces. Dusting a little flour over your hands and the top of the dough, shape each piece on the worktop so the outer surface becomes taut and the dough forms a ball. Place these pieces on a large floured tray, cover with a cloth and leave for at least 30 minutes. This allows the dough to relax, making it easier to shape.
5 For the best result, heat the oven to 240C/220C fan/465F/gas mark 9 with a baking stone inside – I use a solid steel Welsh bakestone – and have a stout piece of card about 30cm wide to use as a "peel" to shovel the pizza on to the hot stone. Alternatively, line a baking tray with nonstick paper or dust with flour. Flour a piece of dough, your hands and the worktop then dimple the dough out into a circle. Now get your knuckles underneath it and stretch the dough out to a width of about 20cm.
6 Flour your card peel well, stretch the dough out on it (or on the tray) again, to 30cm across, then dimple the edges with your fingertips, leaving a 1cm border. Quickly spread tomato sauce up to the edges and top modestly with mozzarella, olives etc, shaking the peel occasionally to check it hasn't stuck. Slide the pizza on to the hot stone and bake for about 10 minutes.
Frying pan tomato sauce
Liquids evaporate quickly from a frying pan, yielding a thick, rich sauce in the fastest time and freeing you from expensive jars of readymade.
Makes enough for 5-6 pizzas
6 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tins plum tomatoes, chopped
6 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp dried oregano
Salt to taste
1 Put the oil in a pan with the onions, garlic, 75ml water and a big pinch of salt. Boil until the water evaporates and the onion and garlic are sizzling and translucent.
2 Add the tomatoes and cook until almost dry, then add the tomato paste, chilli and oregano. Cook until the sauce just starts to catch on the base of the pan. Add salt to taste, then scrape on to a dinner plate to cool quickly. Use when cold. Keep what you don't use in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze.