Recipe 3 : Roasted ham and pineapple pizza with Gruyere

I  realise that to some people, the words ham, pineapple and pizza in one recipe title is an abomination. If you have ever tried real authentic Italian pizza, you may agree. The only place I ever ate the real thing was not in Naples, but Kuta in Bali, in a restaurant known as The Maccaroni Club. The mozzarella, olive oil, tomatoes and basil on my classic pizza had been imported from Italy all the way to Indonesia. An offense to anyone with locavore issues, but a really good pizza.

Despite not being exactly 'classic' , sometimes you just have to eat whatever you fancy. This gave me a chance to make some homemade pizza dough, something I haven't done for a very long time.

Recipe : Pizza dough

1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I suppose bread flour would be better)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup warm water (above 100oF)

1 tsp sugar

1 packet of quick yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

First, get your yeast ready. Fill a jug or bowl with the warm water and stir in the yeast. Sprinkle with the sugar and stir well. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes by which time it should have grown in volume and become foamy. Your yeast is alive if this happens. If not, you may need to buy fresher yeast as using dead yeast will prevent your pizza dough from rising.

When your yeast is ready, pour it into a bowl along with the flour, salt and olive oil. Mix everything together really well until it becomes a smooth ball and knead for about 7 minutes, pulling and stretching the dough between your hands until it is very smooth and elastic. Place it into a bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it sit for about an hour. It should double in size:

 From this......

.....to this.

Give your dough a punch or a knock down and remove from the bowl. Roll out on a floured surface to your desired shape. You can use your hands to stretch the dough into a flat shape also. As I wanted this to be a thin crust pizza, I rolled to about 1/6 inch thick and pushed the dough into a round shape on a pizza tray. You can use a flat baking dish or anything you want if you don't have a pizza stone or tray.

Topping

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tin plum tomatoes, drained of all juice

1 bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1/2 cup leftover roast ham, sliced

3 or 4 leftover roast pineapple slices, cut into small chunks

1 cup grated cheese (I used Gruyere)

a little salt and black pepper

Heat the oven to 425oF.

Brush the prepared dough with oil and sprinkle with the dried oregano.

Squeeze each tomato to release any remaining juice and slice thinly. Lay these all over the base, followed by the bell pepper, ham and pineapple. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the cheese.

Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and melted and the crust cooked.