BBQ Lamb Meatball Pizza

Preparation: 50 minutes (plus dough proving time)
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour (plus dough proving time)
Servings: 4
Tips: If you don’t have the time to make your own pizza dough, you can always use store-bought pizza bases.

INGREDIENTS:

Toppings:
• 1kg minced lamb
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tbsp dried origanum
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• 300g Basil pesto
• 400g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 300g vine tomatoes
• Fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Pizza dough:
• 6 cups white bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 ½ cups warm water

METHOD:

1. Start with the pizza dough, sieve the flour into a large bowl then stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well in the flour and pour in the warm water and olive oil and bring together with your hands. If the dough is too sticky add extra flour and if it’s too dry add extra water until the dough comes together in a ball.
2. Knead the dough on a flour-dusted surface for a few minutes until you have a smooth, springy dough. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rise until doubled in size for an hour or so or until needed.
3. Using your hands, combine the minced beef in a bowl with the onion, garlic, origanum, breadcrumbs and egg and generously season with salt and black pepper.
4. Form the minced beef mixture into approximately 50 small meatballs.
5. Heat a large frying pan on a medium-high heat, pour a few tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and fry the meatballs in batches for approximately 5 minutes or until they are golden brown all over.
6. Add the meatballs to the BBQ sauce and toss to evenly coat the beef.
7. Divide the dough into 4 balls, sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and roll out thin pizza bases.
8. Spread pesto over the pizza bases and scatter over the mozzarella cheese, BBQ meatballs, tomatoes and red onions.
9. Transfer to the pizza stone and bake in the Alva pizza oven until the cheese has melted and the base is golden and crispy.
10. Garnish the pizzas with thyme leaves and drizzle over additional BBQ sauce if desired. Serve whilst hot.