A Lovely Cheese Pizza Just For Me | Home Alone
Kevin's thick crust cheese and tomato pizza with sauce and dough made from scratch, inspired by the quote: "a lovely cheese pizza just for me", celebrating Home Alone.
Ingredients
A lovely cheese pizza just for me base:
- 750 g [4½ cups + 3 tbsp] strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting
- 14 g [2 sachets/1 tbsp] fast action dried yeast
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- 3½ tbsp olive oil
- 400 ml [14 oz] water
Sauce:
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 3 tsp dried Italian herbs or oregano
- Sprinkle of dark brown sugar
- 450 g [2 tins or around 16 oz] chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 5 tbsp tomato puree
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
Toppings:
- Cheeses of your choice to top I used mozzarella and cheddar
- Edible glitter optional
Instructions
A lovely cheese pizza just for me base:
- Preheat your oven to 240°C [460°F] or 220°C fan. If using, place a pizza/baking tray or pizza stones in the oven to heat up while you make your dough. Otherwise, make sure your removable shelf is already in the oven heating up.
- In a large bowl, sieve in the flour.
- Add the yeast to one side and the salt to the other side.
- Sprinkle in the sugar and mix everything together for an even distribution.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil.
- Pour in the water and use a fork to bring everything together into a shaggy dough.
- On a clean and lightly floured work surface, knead your dough until it is smooth and shiny. This should take around 5 minutes.
- Lightly flour the surface again and lay your dough ball on it.
- Turn your large bowl upside down and place it over your dough like a dome so it can start rising.
Sauce:
- While your dough is rising, make your sauce.
- In a saucepan over a medium heat, add some oil and fry off the diced onion.
- Add the garlic, herbs and dark brown sugar. Allow to caramelise.
- Pour in the tomatoes or sauce. Add the Worcestershire sauce and stir in.
- Squeeze in the tomato puree and stir in.
- Season to taste and adapt from here - add seasoning/herbs/sugar to taste.
- Allow to simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.
- When ready, take off the heat.
Construction:
- Time to shape your dough!
- Remove the bowl from over the top of your dough. Stretch the dough slightly and roll it out to a large circular shape with a rolling pin.
- Carefully lift the dough onto a large sheet of baking parchment/greaseproof paper.
- Create a thick crust by rolling the dough in around the edge and pinching where needed.
- Remove a shelf/tray/stone from the hot oven and slide the baking parchment with your dough onto the shelf/tray/stone.
- Bake your dough base until it has risen slightly and is just starting to colour. The surface will feel dryer when you touch it. This will take around 5 minutes.
- Once your base has mostly baked, remove it from the oven, keeping it on the tray/stone/shelf.
- Turn the oven down to 220°C [430°F] or 200°C.
- Spread the sauce over the dough, right up to the crust.
- Sprinkle over your chosen cheese. Make it as cheesy as you want!
- Slide back into the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes or until there is a nice golden colour on the crust and the cheese has a slight crisp to it.
- Once baked, leave for a few moments before spraying with edible glitter and cutting.
Notes
A lovely cheese pizza just for me… beautiful. This delicious Home Alone inspired dish is best eaten once baked and slightly cooled. But, it will still be tasty cold the next day. Enjoy!