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Spelt Herb Pizza Dough

Makes 2 large / 36 mini pizzas

Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes / Rising Time: 30-60 minutes

Homemade pizzas are a staple menu item in the Good Parsi Household. We love to experiment with different toppings (seafood is our favourite), and have a New Year’s Eve tradition of staying at home and making homemade pizza and chicken wings. I have used many different recipes over the years, but my latest creation seems to be the bomb!

This recipe makes 2 large 30 x 40cm rectangular (I use all the space I can on each oven tray), or 36 mini pizzas. You can also make the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge for a slow rise, so all you have to worry about is preparing the toppings! I make my dough in the Thermomix, but have provided the manual method first. This dough is quite soft and wet, so make sure you have semolina or flour on hand to dust if the dough is sticking to your bench/mat/hands.

Add your toppings and bake in a 200°C preheated oven on fan bake for 15 (mini) / 25 (large) minutes. Depending on how many toppings you add, your pizza might need a little more bake time to ensure the base is cooked properly.

Ingredients

  • 250ml warm filtered water
  • 2 tsp/1 packet dried yeast (7g)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • ½ cup plain Greek yoghurt (130g)
  • 450g spelt white flour (can be substituted with bakers flour)
  • 100g fine semolina
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp dried garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dried Italian herbs OR 1 tbl finely chopped fresh herbs
  • Olive oil, for oiling

Standard Method

  1. Place the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and stir together. Leave for a few minutes until frothy.
  2. Place the flour, semolina, salt, garlic powder and herbs in a large bowl and stir to combine.
  3. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour in the yeast mixture and yoghurt.
  4. Stir to roughly combine with the wooden spoon, then press together with your hands and transfer to a floured surface.
  5. Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Tuck into a tight ball. NOTE – the dough is quite wet so you may need a bit of extra flour to ensure it doesn’t stick to your hands while kneading.
  6. Add a generous splash of olive oil to another large bowl and swirl around to coat the sides halfway up the bowl.
  7. Roll the dough in the bowl to completely cover it with oil. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise and double in size. NOTE – depending on your environment, this can take 30-60 minutes. If you wish to make the dough 1-2 days ahead, place the oiled dough ball in a plastic freezer bag and leave in the fridge until 15 minutes before making the pizzas. Take it out, leave it to warm to room temperature, and voila! All ready to go!

Thermomix Method

  1. Place the warm water, yeast, sugar, yoghurt, flour, semolina, salt, garlic powder and herbs in the TM bowl.
  2. Set to speed INTERVAL for 2 mins to knead dough. Remove dough from TM bowl and press into a ball. 
  3. Add a generous splash of olive oil to a large bowl and swirl around to coat the sides halfway up the bowl.
  4. Roll the dough in the bowl to completely cover it with oil. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise and double in size. NOTE – depending on your environment, this can take 30-60 minutes. If you wish to make the dough 1-2 days ahead, place the oiled dough ball in a plastic freezer bag and leave in the fridge until 15 minutes before making the pizzas. Take it out, leave it to warm to room temperature, and voila! All ready to go!

The secret to light pizza dough is not knocking back for a second rise, nor rolling out the dough. Simply tear off small balls for mini pizzas, or split the dough in 2 for the large pizzas, then gently stretch and press lightly with your fingers to shape and flatted the dough. You should be aiming for less than 5mm thickness, unless you like a very thick pizza base, as the dough will rise when cooking.

Enjoy! GPW