Pizza dough

• 500g strong white bread flour (it will say strong flour on the packet)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (or salt)
• 1 x 7 g dried yeast sachets (fresher the better)
• 1/2 tablespoon golden caster sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 325 ml lukewarm water

Method

1. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl then pop in the salt and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork or a spoon, mix the mixture into the flour, and when it all starts to come together, take it out of the bowl and work it with your clean, flour-dusted hands on a table or similar. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

2. Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size. (or not)

3. Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about 2 - 2.5 large pizzas.