Italy 2024

 We've been held back with other things and missed a couple of races, so it's time to catch up. The first of which is Italy. And for this Tally took over.

While others said we should make arancini (and perhaps Heidi will have to make time for those later in the year) instead we stumbled on pizzetta. Pizza only smaller.

We couldn't go much wrong with those. This is a good one if you want to try it for yourselves - or want to allow a small person to do it alone.

And yes we cheated, being able to do this mid-week after school/work we bought ready-made pizza dough. Making the dough wouldn't trouble Tally, having made enough breads together, but we didn't have the time.

Various toppings are possible, and much like any family we insist on our preferences. Fortuneatly, pizzetta gives us the ability to individualise. 

Toppings at the ready. (Cooking apples are not for pizzetta.)

Press out the dough into small circles. You have to gently encourage the dough to comply - apparently, this is similar to her school form group.

Assembly is a work of art, which can't be rushed however hungry you are

Ready to bake

Enjoy

Recipe

Ingredients

1 pack of Pizza Express ready-to-stretch pizza dough

2 tablespoons tomato purée

Toppings of your choice (we had: cheddar, mozzarella, cooked ham, salami Milano, cooked chicken, rocket, pickled jalapenos - not all on any one pizzetta, I might add).

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7 (fan 220C) with a metal baking sheet on the top shelf. 
2. Cut up all your toppings and have them ready to use. Grate the cheddar.
3. Lay out a piece of greesproof paper or foil on the kitchen work surface, a little larger than the baking sheet size.
4. Cover an adjacent area of clean surface with a light dusting of flour and have more ready.
5. Open the dough and cut into pieces the size of a ping-pong ball.
6. Using the flour on your hands and the surface, stretch the balls gently into circles placing each onto the greesproof/foil with a small space between them. We managed to fit 12 on the sheet comfortably, and a second batch of 8.
7. Spread tomato purée on each circle with the back of a teaspoon.
8. Top with whatever you chose - but don't stack up chunks of mozzarella, despite Heidi liking it, in the oven it just melts and makes all the pizzetta join up.
9. Take the baking sheet out of the oven. Transfer the greesproof/foil onto the baking sheet and place it back into the oven.
10. Cook for about 6 minutes, hoping that the bases are cooked.
11. Despite how delicious this smells, you must remember to wait until it cools enough not to feel like lava in your mouth.