Ebbo's Yorkshire Pizza

Last modified 14/01/03

This deep pan pizza will serve 8 normal or 2 VERY hungry people. Its also ideal for family gatherings and buffets. It's made in three stages taking about 2 hours from start to finish. As you will be using half the flour and creamed tomatoes per session you will have to make it again within a couple of days to use up the creamed tomato :-)

Nothing is critical in making this Pizza. The only thing to be careful of, is the ratio of water to flour for the dough, too wet and it sticks to everything, too dry and it's very hard work. 13floz is leaning toward dry, and for a beginner that's your best option :-)

You will need two non-stick baking trays 12"(30cm) square, however, I recommend greasing these the first few times you use them.

For the base you will need:

1/2 1.5kg bag of strong white bread flour

1 Sachet of dried yeast

1 Level teaspoon of salt

1 Large knob of soft butter

13floz hand hot water

For the Topping you will need:

1/2 500g carton of creamed tomatoes or passata

1 Heaped dessert spoon of oregano

300g of cheese (Cheddar, Red Leicester etc... )

First stage: Making the base

Weigh out the flour using scales to halve the bag, place in large mixing bowl

Add salt and yeast & mix dry, then rub in the soft butter.

Add 13floz of hand hot water to the mixture and stir this in with a knife. When the mixture is together use you hands to bind it further. Tip the mixture onto a work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes.

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for approx..30mins in a warm kitchen.

Put half the creamed tomato in a jug, add the oregano, mix and allow to stand until needed

Second stage: Rolling out

Flour the worktop, then divide the dough into two equal parts. Put one part back in the bowl. Roll the dough with your hands to make a sausage about 8" long. Then, using a rolling pin roll this down leaving a unrolled lump at each end about 2" long.

Turn dough through 90º. Place the rolling pin along the dough on top of the lumps and start to roll out again. The lumps at the end will form the corners of the base helping to make it square instead of round.

Use your hand to help it form a square and roll it close to the required size. The dough is very forgiving so don't give up! Also, after rising and adding the topping it won't look so bad. When you have it close to size and shape fold it into 3 by picking up the front third and gently dropping it on the rear third pick it up and place it on the baking tray.

Roll the dough to fill the corners and get it as even as you can. Do the second base and cover both with the damp tea towel and leave to rise for approx. 1 hour.

Third stage: Applying toppings and baking

Pre-heat oven. Fan oven = 175ºC. Normal oven = 200ºC.

Divide the creamed tomato and oregano mix between the 2 bases. Spread the mixture with the back of a large spoon, I use a  large salad spoon. Ensure the mixture is spread right to the edges.

Next, grate the cheese directly on to the top.

Pop the pizzas in to the pre-heated oven, top two shelves.

If the oven is fan assisted, just turn the pizzas after 7 minutes front to back. If it's a traditional oven, swap them top to bottom at 7 minutes to even out cooking.

Cooking time is 15 minutes (approx.)

When you have finished it should look like this...

Now doesn't that look appetising!

Click here to download a printable 2 page version of this recipe.

Recommended accompaniments:

Baked potatoes, chips, baked beans & coke, as cold as you can get it :-)

Tips:

When rolling out, don't be afraid to use a little flour under the dough. If it's free to move around on the worktop it will roll out much easier.

Try to roll the dough out to an even thickness as small differences in thickness are amplified when it rises!

Pre-cook the baked potatoes in the microwave while the oven is heating up then put them in the oven with any oven chips just as you start to apply the toppings to the pizza, this will give them a 5min start.

Use the largest spoon you have to spread the creamed tomato & oregano mix.

Remove the pizza from the baking trays immediately and leave on a cooling rack. This will stop the base from sweating and going sticky.

Use a large wheel pizza cutter.

If you wish to contact me, please click Here

Please feel free to sign the guest book if you like what you have read: Guest Book

Thank you