If you can tell the difference between a shop bought “pizza” and a pizza from an Italian restaurant, this one is for you. A good pizza starts with a good base, and that’s what you’ll learn here. More to come on making good pizzas!

What you’ll need for about 4 servings:

25g (1oz) fresh yeast (1 cake compressed yeast) or 1 package active dried yeast
100g (4oz) plain flour
pinch of salt

Crumble the yeast into a cup (or jug) and dissolve it into approx. 4 tbsp of lukewarm water (roughly 35C/95F). If you’re using dry yeast, make sure the water is a little hotter, at bout 45C/110F.

Mix in a quarter of the flour (25g/1oz). Leave the cup with a cloth covering it, and let the doug rise.

Put the remaining flour into a bowl, add the sale and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast mixture from the cup into the well and work in gradually. Add a touch of water so that the dough is smooth and pliable.

After 10 minutes of hardcore kneading, roll the dough into a ball put into a well floured bowl, and leave it to rise until it has doubled in size. Once it has risen, it’s ready to be made into pizza bases.

Simply place on a flat, floured surface and roll out to achieve the pizza shape and size you wish. Potentially, you could have any shape you want this way, so go crazy!