2013 Cooking Club Week 20: Death by Cheese Pizza

This is a recipe nicked from a German TV chef, Tim Mälzer. It is not for pizza purists and certainly not for anybody on a diet. But it is worth a sin – a thin, crisp base and an oozing, garlicky cheesy topping – nice!

Ingredients for 1 pizza / 2 portions:

• 200 g flour
• 1 level teaspoon dried yeast
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of Salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 125 g mozzarella
• 60 g strong mature cheese (such as gruyere)
• 60 g blue cheese

NB: I doubled the recipe. That’s why the ingredient bowls in the photo are fuller than they should be


1. Combine flour, yeast, baking powder and salt. Add 120 ml handwarm water and mix with the dough hooks of your hand mixer. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and knead until you have a smooth, pliable dough.
2. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface, then turn out the dough and knead the dough by hand for a couple of minutes. Then work into a ball and put into a covered bowl. Leave to prove for 30 minutes (hot press would be ideal).



3.Mince the garlic finely and stir into 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cut the mozzarella into small cubes and grate the hard cheese.



4. After proving knead the dough again, then roll out into a round (30 cm Ø). Transfer the dough into a pan (oiled and dusted with flour) or a baking tin (24 cm Ø). Distribute 2/3 of the mozzarella along the edge of the pan/form. Fold over the overhanging dough and press down lightly. In the original recipe the pizza is baked in an ovenproof cast iron frying pan. I use a round pizza tray, the kind with the holes in them, normally used to bake frozen pizza.




5. Brush the garlic oil over the dough. Top with the grated cheese and the remaining mozzarella. Then finish with crumbs of the blue cheese. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.



6. Bake at 250◦ Celsius for 15-18 minutes on the lowest shelf of the oven, until golden brown, bubbling and yummy (fan oven 220 Grad).
The highest setting of my conventional oven is 230 and the pizza comes out fine.



Serve with a nice, fresh salad and forget about the chips and/or garlic bread just this once