A gooey, hot, cheesy pizza must be the most happy-making meal of all. Thick or thin crust, however you eat it – it is always a winner when you are hungry. What is so great about this pizza, is that everyone can make their own.
Serves 6 to 10
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Braai Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 500 g White Bread Flour
- A big pinch of Salt
- 10 g Instant Yeast
- 325 ml Warm Water
- About two to three handfuls of Figs, cut in half
- A couple of pinches of Brown Sugar
- A splash of White Balsamic Vinegar (you can use normal balsamic, but it will change the colour of the figs)
- One packet of Beef Biltong or Streaky Bacon, chopped
- A couple of Chillies, seeded and sliced
- A wedge of Blue Cheese, crumbled
- A handful of Rocket
- Salt and cracked Black Pepper
- Olive Oil mixed with a couple of cloves of thinly sliced Garlic
- A couple of handfuls of Mozzarella, grated
Instructions
- Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Activate and dissolve the yeast by placing it in a bowl and adding the warm water.
- Give it a stir, and sprinkle a handful of flour over the mixture to prevent the yeast from forming a crust.
- Leave the yeast mixture in a warm spot for about 10 minutes or until it begins to froth and gradually add it to the flour, mixing it well until it forms a dough. The only way to do this is with your hands. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour; if it’s too dry, add a splash more water, and so on.
- Knead for 10 minutes until the dough has a smooth, elastic consistency.
- Sprinkle some flour onto your work surface, place the dough on the flour and cover with a damp tea towel.
- Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes or until it had doubled in size. In the meantime, light your braai fire and get started on making the pizza toppings.
- To make the sticky figs, heat a non-stick pan on a moderate temperature (about 220°C).
- Add the figs, a couple of pinches of sugar and a splash of balsamic. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes stirring often and cook until the figs are all gooey and syrupy.
- Set aside to cool down.
- Fry the bacon in a pan until nice and crispy then set aside and prep all the other ingredients.
- By now the dough should be ready.
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean working surface and tear off a fist-sized piece of dough.
- Using a rolling pin (or a bottle of wine) roll the dough out into your preferred size and shape – keeping in mind it can’t be bigger than your braai grid.
- Lower the temperature to 200 °C.
- Now take one pizza base, lightly brush the one side with olive oil and pop the base straight on the braai grid to cook for a couple of minutes (or until the bottom of the pizza is golden and top starts bubbling).
- Turn it over then brush the other side of the base with the garlic and olive oil mixture and top with some sliced mozzarella if you want a cheesy pizza.
- Close the hood, and once the cheese has melted, remove from the heat and place onto a wooden board.
- Top the pizza with as many or as few of the toppings as you’d like. I like to add a drizzle of olive oil over the whole lot, before slicing it up. And I like to add quite a bit of chilli, but that’s up to you.
- Serve the pizza in the middle of the table, between all your friends with a bucket of cold beers on the side. Tuck in and if you’re like me and you added just a little bit too much chilli, cool your burning tongue with cold beer. Then do it all over again until you’ve used up all the ingredients or your fire has gone out. It’s so delicious and so easy to make you’ll want to eat all of it.
Recipe Courtesy of Justin Bonelo – Ketla