Pizza is my favourite comfort food. I think there is nothing better than a fresh pizza and a cold beer. Chef Ross Lewis, owner of Chapter One, has taught me everything I know about flavour, and this pizza is a take on a dish from our sister restaurant Osteria Lucio, which I think makes the best pizza in the city.
The salami with the heat of the chilli and then brought together with honey, it’s amazing. Once you try the honey on it, you will never go back. Everything in the recipe is widely accessible and not expensive. Also, the dough freezes really well.
Darren Hogarty is head pastry chef at Chapter One restaurant.
Spicy salami pizza with honey
Makes eight
Ingredients
Pizza dough:
1kg strong flour
1 x 7g pack dried yeast
675ml warm water
5g salt
For the sauce:
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tin of plum tomatoes
½ bunch of basil
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Toppings:
Salami
Buffalo mozzarella
1 diced chilli
Honey
Method
1. Mix the flour, salt, yeast and water in an electric mixer with the hook attachment for eight minutes, or if by hand mix in a bowl, then knead for 15 minutes.
2. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel, and set aside in a warm place to prove for one hour.
3. Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back and cut into eight pieces for eight pizzas. Knead these pieces into balls. This is where I freeze whatever I’m not using.
4. Leave the dough to prove again for another 30 minutes.
5. For the sauce: peel and slice the garlic.
6. Cook the garlic in the olive oil on a medium heat for a few minutes.
7. Add the tomatoes and the basil and cook for 10 minutes.
8. Blend the sauce until smooth and season with salt and pepper.
9. When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 240 degrees Celsius, with a pizza stone or upturned tray in the base of the oven.
10. Gently stretch and pull your dough into a roughly 23cm circle for one pizza. Spread a light layer of sauce over the top, leaving a rim clear. Add salami, chilli and mozzarella and cook for 12 minutes in the oven. When cooked, give the pizzas a light drizzle of honey and serve immediately.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome
