Like your pizza to have a bit of a kick? Here’s our recipe for Hot Chilli Pizza, made with Fair Trade Meru Herbs Tomato & Chilli Sauce for that hot and spicy extra dimension. Thanks again to Fiona for sharing! 

Making bread can be daunting. What if it doesn’t rise? If you fancy a go at a very forgiving dough – try making this pizza. Using Meru Herbs Tomato & Chilli Sauce is a great way to add loads of easy flavour to your pizza. 

This quantity of dough makes three pizzas of approx. 12 inches. They each take less than 10 minutes to cook so you can feed loads of people.

 

A stand mixer with a dough hook is the easiest way to make the dough.

 

 

 

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 250g plain white flour  (a mix of the two makes for an easier dough but gives a good chewy    structure)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7g instant yeast – the small sachets are that size
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 325ml lukewarm water
• Polenta (cornmeal) to roll out and stop the pizza sticking to the baking sheet

• 1 tablespoon Tomato & Chilli Sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Large ball of mozzarella cheese
• Thinly sliced pepper, courgette, onion, aubergine, mushrooms, pepperoni, salami and other meats or whatever takes your fancy
• (optional) grated cheddar and olive oil 

  

 

Preheat the oven to 250°C

 

1. Place the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the yeast, salt, oil and water. Mix on a low speed for about 4-5 minutes. Test how elastic your dough is. If you can pull it about 20cm  without it breaking, it’s ready. Try another couple of minutes mixing until it is.
2.  Gather the dough into a neat ball and leave it in the bowl, covered with a clean tea towel. Unless your kitchen is really cold it can just sit on the counter for about an hour until it has doubled in size.  
3.  Turn it out onto a floured surface – try using dry uncooked polenta to stop the dough sticking. It adds flavour and crunch too. Divide into three equal portions to make three pizzas.
4.  Take the first portion and pat it into a ball, then roll out until it’s about the thickness of a pound coin.  Don’t worry if it’s not a perfect circle !
5.  Sprinkle the baking sheet with polenta. Drape the dough over the rolling pin and transfer to the baking sheet.  

 

1. Mix the Meru Hot Chilli Pesto with the tomato paste in a bowl. Spread evenly over the pizza base leaving a narrow margin around the edge. Now add your thinly sliced vegetables or meats and then the mozzarella torn into chunks.
2.  You can add a sprinkle of grated cheddar if you like and a swirl of olive oil.
3.  Place in the middle shelf of the oven and put on a timer for 8 minutes. Check if the pizza is bubbling on top and the dough round the edge has turned golden.
4. Give it a minute or two more if it needs it.

 

 

If you only want one pizza, the dough will keep in a plastic box in the fridge for a couple of days. Just take out and bring up to room temperature before rolling out.