dough.

Left side: tomato sauce, bacon, roasted red pepper, mushrooms, shrimp (well, not yet), feta, basil. Right side: mozzarella, tomato sauce, pecorino.

+++

quick pizza dough.

2 to 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 package fast-acting yeast
1 1/2 tsp unrefined sugar
1/4 cup peanut or olive oil
1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and 2/3 cup hot water. Stir in the oil, 1 1/4 cups of the remaining flour, and the salt and blend the mixture until it forms a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface, incorporating as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.

Let rise and bake with toppings at 230C for 15-18 minutes.

+++

easy red sauce. So for each can of tomatoes you use, you use: 1 small glug of red wine, 1 clove of garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1 glug of olive oil, 1 grind of black pepper and 1 pinch of salt or smoked salt. And maybe 1 pinch of smoked paprika if you feel spicy. Oh and 1 tsp of sugar towards the end. So this is the amount I normally make.

2 cans cheap canned whole tomatoes
2 glugs of decent red wine
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 small bay leaves
2 glugs good olive oil
2 tsp unrefined sugar

Put everything except the sugar in a saucepan on the lowest heat possible. Let it cook until the tomatoes fall apart, this usually takes 60-90 minutes for the Dirk's tomatoes. After 45 minutes add the sugar, and after 15 more minutes start tasting for salt and sugar levels.

+++