Try a slice of perfection with Phil Vickery's thin-crust pizza masterclass.

Makes: 2 large or 4 small pizzas
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Dough
500g ‘00’ flour
Salt, pinch
10g yeast, dried, roughly 7g sachet and a half
325-350mls water, roughly

Pizza Sauce
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp tomato puree
200g buffalo mozzarella
20 leaves fresh basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Meat Option
250g pesto salami
Or 100g Parma ham

Method

  1. Place the flour, salt, yeast into a bowl and mix well.
  2. Add ¾ of the water and mix well, you may need to add a little more water. The dough must be soft but not too sticky.
  3. Remove from the bowl and knead well for a few minutes.
  4. Place back in the bowl and leave to rise for 15 minutes in a warm place, covered with cling film.
  5. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to its hottest temperature. Add the baking pizza stone if you have one.
  6. Next place the tomatoes and paste into a pan and cook for 10 minutes or so until nicely thickened then cool.
  7. Split the dough into 2 or 4 depending on what size you want.
  8. Lightly flour the table and roll out the dough to the thickness of a pancake, flouring all the time.
  9. Spoon over a little tomato sauce, then top with 4 or 5 pieces of Mozzarella.
  10. Dot over some leaves of basil, a little dried Oregano and a drizzle of olive oil.
  11. Finally add a little salt and pepper, and meat if you're using it.
  12. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until you have a crisp edge.
  13. Remove and eat straight away.