Pizza dough recipe and guest hosting ideas

For New Year Eve, I wanted something simple and quick to whip up as I clock off from work at 6pm and am expecting guests to arrive at about 8.00pm. At the same time, my hands were itching to bake something fresh from the oven and have little bits of Barossa embedded in it. I found this pizza dough recipe from Jamie Oliver and have to admit, it is a winner. Super simple and delicious with just about any topping you can dream of.

Ingredients:
1kg strong flour
1 tbsp sea salt
14g dried yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
650ml lukewarm water

Combine yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and allow the yeast to foam, which takes about 5 minutes. Once that happens, slowly mix the yeast concoction to the flour and knead dough by continuously rolling backward and forward until it comes together. This process takes about 10 minutes and you want to achieve a nice smooth, elastic dough texture.

Allow to rest in a warm spot for 45 minutes. Divide dough into 4 sections and allow to rest for another 15 minutes.

Prepare your toppings.

Roll dough out to about 3cm thickness and place on a baking pan that has been oiled and floured (prevents dough from sticking). Butter your favourite tomato or alfredo sauce generously on the dough and spread your toppings evenly before adding a tad bit of cheese to finish it off.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 200C and voila, dinner is served!

I opted for Mount Pleasant's gourmet sausages, smoked ham, roast beef and used mushroom sauce as a base.

Had my tomatoes and carrots ready for a quick salad, used the mushrooms in the pizza because I loveeee mushrooms.

A bit of hot salami for a spicy treat.

Before entering the oven... was getting excited! I have used boccocino cheese but you can go for mozarella, cheddar, feta etc !

It was so so good and definitely enough for the 3 of us! I think wine and pizza go pretty well together, don't you?

For desserts, we had chocolates,  strawberries and continued to sip our Sevenhill wine from Clare Valley. What a great way to end 2013 and begin 2014!

The next morning, we could not be bothered to wait for brunch and thankfully, the sister brought over a cheese platter with cheddar, brie, parsley cheese and another cheese variation that I cannot remember now. I provided the rockmelon for that extra bit of fiber, freshness and sweetness along with the cheese and onion kabana for some meaty flavours. Delicious!!