Jamie Oliver's simple homemade pizza will make you ditch takeaway for good

01 December 2023 , 14:03

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Friday night pizza doesn't have to break the bank, with Jamie Oliver's cheap and easy recipe (Image: Paul Stuart)

You don't have to break the bank to get your pizza-fix this weekend, as TV chef Jamie Oliver has rustled up a delicious at-home recipe.

The cooking guru says the method isn't too tricky, and takes around one hour and 20 minutes to make. Unlike those last minute deliveries that end up costing a fortune - this pizza only costs around 90p per serving.

"Trust me, once you see how simple and tasty this pizza dough recipe is you won't want takeaways," Jamie added. "Serve with a lovely fresh salad on the side to boost your 5-a-day."

This recipe makes four pizzas but enough dough for eight bases, so double the sauce and toppings if you want a bigger batch. You'll probably already have some of the staple ingredients lying around in the kitchen too.

Ingredients

Strong white bread flour (800g)
Fine sea salt (1 tsp)
Dried yeast (2 x 7g sachets)
Fine ground semolina flour OR strong white bread flour (200g)
Golden caster sugar (1tbsp)
Garlic (1 clove)
A bunch of fresh basil
Olive oil
Plum tomatoes (1 x 400g tin)
Mozzarella (85g)

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Jamie Oliver's pizzas look truly weekend-worthy (Press Association Images)

Method

Pile the flours and one level teaspoon of sea salt onto a clean surface. Using your hands, create a well in the centre.
In a separate jug, add the yeast and sugar to 650ml of lukewarm water. Mix it together then leave for a few minutes, before pouting it into the well.
Slowly bring the flour from the inner edge of the well and mix into the liquid. This can easily be done with a fork, and you should use a steady, circular movement until all the dough has come together is too hard to mix with your fork.
Flour your hands and begin to pat the dough into a ball. Then, knead it by rolling it back and forwards, using your hands to stretch and push the dough. It should take around 10 minutes for you have to a 'smooth, springy, soft dough'.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave this in a warm place for 45 minutes - where it should double in size.
Now, onto the sauce. Simply peel and finely slice the garlic, pick the basil leaves and finely chop the stalks. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan at medium-low heat.
Add the garlic and basil stalks and cook gently for a few minutes until the garlic is lightly golden. After than, add most of the basil leaves (you will need some for garnishing) as well as the tomatoes, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Let the sauce cook for 20 minutes or until smooth, making sure you're breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Then, taste and season to your liking.
If you're only cooking for four, divide the dough in half and wrap one of them in clinfilm and feeze it for another day. With the remaining half, divide it into four equal-sized balls.
Flour each dough ball and cover with clingfilm. These will need to rest for about 15 minutes so they're easier to roll thin. Then, dust a clean surface and the dough with a little flour or semolina, and roll it out into a circle shape. It should be about half a centimeter in thickness.
Tear off an appropriately sized piece of foil, rub it with olive oil, dust well with flour or semolina and place the pizza base on top. Continue doing the same with the remaining dough, dust with a little flour so you can pile them up. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 250°C/500°F/gas 9. Now, you can finally put your toppings on. Make sure you spread the tomato sauce out to all the edges. If you want a simple dinner, stick with mozzarella and basil. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper.
OPTIONAL - but if you have access to a piece of granite in your convential oven, place them on the slab and cook the pizzas that way. Otherwise, just cook them one by one on top of tin foil that is directly on the oven shelf, towards the bottom of the oven.
Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the pizzas are golden and crispy.