Making pizza Bottega Rotolo style
Bottega Rotolo Hobart has been prosecuting a Friday spring lunch agenda with the fortitude we have come to expect from this Italian grocer cum-cheese supplier, cooking school and cafe.
Boozy Friday lunch friend and this One Girl recently partook in their pizza lunch.
For $35 per person we each had a choice of three pizzas, a salad to share and a glass of either red or white wine.
Pizza 1
Tomato, pesto and buffalo mozzarella and fresh grated parmesan
Pizza 2
Spanish Chorizo, piquillos finished with Rocket tossed in Pendleton Extra Virgin Oil and Murray River Salt
Pizza 3
Lomo or shredded pork loin, eggplant kasaundi and tamarind yoghurt dressing.
We chose the Lomo and the Margarita and shared them.
Then this Girl decided to try it at home.
You might already have a favourite pizza base recipe or are happy to buy pre-made. But pizza base making is easy, fun, and the results are generally better than when you outsource. Try Bottega Rotolo's recipe on for size.
The base ingredients:
400 grams of Italian ‘00’ flour
100 g fine semolina
2 teaspoons murray river salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
2-3 teaspoons dried yeast
polenta for dusting
The process:
Dissolve the yeast in warm, but not hot, water with the sugar. Wait for some bubbles. A few bubbles will do. Keeping the mixture in a warm place will help. Avoid cold draughts!
Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the yeast mixture.
Bring the flour and yeast mixture together with your hands and add the oil to form a dough. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface.
Kneed the dough but using the heel of your hand to push and stretch the dough by quarter turns. Do this for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. It will still be wet and sticky.
Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl to prevent it from sticking as it rises. Cover with cling wrap and rest in a warm place for around 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
While this is happening, heat your oven and pizza stone if you have one, to 250 degrees celsius.
Prepare your toppings.
Once the dough has rested, punch it down to the original size then divide into four portions.
Lightly dust the bench with semolina flour. Work one piece of dough at a time using the heel of your hand or a rolling pin or a bit of both and flatten to around 30 cm diameter.
Wack your base on your pizza stone or oven tray. Bake at 250 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce to 230 degrees for a further 15 minutes or until carmelised on top.
Serve with a salad of rocket or spinach or mixed greens, a handful of cherry or sundried tomatoes and thinly sliced fennel that has been soaked briefly in chardonnay vinegar. I used Pendleton’s. Splash with Pendleton’s Blood Orange Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The Lomo
This Girl's favourite pizza was the spicy lomo. I bought the Spanish pork from Bottego Rotolo but you could slow cook your own pork loin and shred it yourself. I also used Goan cuisine bits and pieces: Eggplant Kasaundi and Tamarind chutney mixed to taste with yoghurt and I decorated the pizza with a scattering of coriander.
If you're really keen you can make your own kasaundi. Here's one recipe but it has not been tested in one of the Two Girls' kitchens.
You can pick up all the products and more from Bottego Rotolo.
The dough makes four pizzas and being a One Girl solo I froze two bases for later. These made a great late home Friday night supplement.
Give a gourmet pizza a try and definitely make your own bases.
And check out Bottego's spring lunches and the excellent produce they stock.
