Pizza

Pizza was born when a simple bread made from flour and water and cooked on large stones was flavoured with olives, olive oil and herbs by the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Egyptians. The Greek brought the recipe with them during their occupation of Southern Italy where, by the Middle Ages, the unleavened bread was used by the poor as plates for their meals.

Experts are divided as to the origin of the word 'pizza'. Some say it comes from the Latin picea, meaning the blackening of the crust in the fire. Others say it's a Roman word meaning pie. Some think it started from the Roman word for magpie - pica - a bird with feathers of two colours.

Whatever the case, it wasn't until the 16th century, when tomatoes come to Europe from South America, that pizza as we know it began to take shape.

Two hundred years later, pizza was a popular peasant food and Naples, Italy, was the pizza capital. On the streets, the world's first pizza-delivery boys carried the tasty snacks on their heads in small tin stoves and sold pieces flavoured with oil. oregano and tomatoes to passers-by.

During a stay in Naples in 1889, Queen Margherite Teresa Giovanna noticed the popularity of this street food and after trying it herself, was hooked. It was considered unseemly for royalty to indulge in a working-class delight, though, so she called pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito to the palace to bake her a pizza.

Esposito created a special pizza strewn with basil, tomatoes and, for the first time, mozzarella - toppings representing the colours of the Italian flag. Pizza Margherita was born, the queen said, "That's amore" and over the following decades, the rest of the world also fell in love with this simple delight.

This pizza dough recipe is taken from Breville's Ultimate Baker's Oven Manual. Put any toppings you like ie. tomato paste, mushrooms, capsicums, onions, tomatoes, capers, pineapple pieces, olives, herbs, salami, ham, anchovies, sardines and cheese.



Ingredients:
200ml water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
375g (2 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 3/4 tsp tandaco yeast

Method:
Put the ingredients in order as above into the bread machine pan. Set the machine to Dough-Pizza cycle. When dough is ready handshape the dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 25cm round for a thick based pizza or into 2 x 20cm rounds for a thinner based pizza.
Place onto a lightly greased baking tray. Spread or sprinkle pizza with selected pizza toppings.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 12-15 minutes or until base is cooked and topping heated through.

Serves 2-4