Mediterranean Veg Pizza

Preparation: 20 minutes (plus dough proving time)
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ready in: 30 minutes (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:
• 300g tomato and herb passata sauce, for base
• 400g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 500g exotic rosa tomatoes, sliced
• 1 400g tinned chickpeas, drained
• 16 brined artichoke hearts, halved
• 200g Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
• Basil leaves, for garnish

Pizza dough:
• 6 cups white bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
• 4 tablespoons 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, about an hour or so or until needed.
3. Divide the dough into 4 balls, sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and roll out thin pizza bases.
4. Spread tomato passata sauce over the pizza bases and scatter over the mozzarella cheese, exotic tomatoes, chickpeas, artichokes and olives.
5. Transfer to the pizza stone and bake in the Alva pizza oven until the cheese has melted and the base is golden and crispy.
6. Garnish the pizzas with fresh basil leaves, season with salt and pepper and serve whilst hot.