PIZZA : noun. a flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese, often garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms, etc.
At Londolozi, we love making our pizzas in the bush over a wood fired burning oven – the dough lovingly made by Abigail in the Londolozi Kitchen and then a variety of toppings so you can create whatever deliciousness you desire. This has been another most requested recipe by our guests during the Lockdown!
Londolozi Chef Abigail gets her dough ready to hand over for the pizzas
The history of pizza begins a very long time ago, when various ancient cultures produced basic flatbreads with several toppings.
Probably the first type of ‘pizza’ was the focaccia, a flat bread known to the Romans as panis focacius, to which toppings were then added. The pizza we know today evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, they say in the 18th or early 19th century.
The secret of a good pizza is the dough and the quality of the ingredients used to top it! This caprese pizza is a firm favourite at Londolozi with village garden ripped basil
The dough is the most important part of any pizza – there are a few rules on dough which are imperative to what we think is the perfect pizza.
The water must not be too hot, otherwise the yeast will die and the dough will become very stiff. You must ‘feed’ the dough with a little sugar and salt, and yeast needs warmth to grow, so cover the dough and leave in a warm place to rise well.
When adding the flour – make sure you have a good working surface to knead it all in – marble or granite are preferable, however, a solid table also works
Cut your dough into balls and allow them to sit a little so they can rise as well before rolling out your pizza base
Londolozi Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (40*C / 105* F ) – not too hot otherwise you’ll kill the yeast!
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 sachet / 10g dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon Rio Largo Olive Oil (or a good quality olive oil)
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups All purpose flour or stoneground flour
- 1 tsp salt
Method
- For the dough, place the flour and 1 level teaspoon of sea salt onto a clean surface and make a well in the centre.
- Add the yeast and sugar to lukewarm water, mix together and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well.
- Using a fork and a circular movement, slowly bring in the flour from the inner edge of the well and mix into the water. Continue to mix, bringing in all the flour – when the dough comes together and becomes too hard to mix with your fork, flour your hands and begin to pat it into a ball.
- Knead the dough by using the bottom of your hand and rolling it backwards and forwards. Keep kneading for 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth, springy, soft dough.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to to prove until doubled in size.
Gluten Free Option – I used 2 Cups all-purpose gluten-free baking flour to make this dough and it turned out very well.
The next most important step is the Tomato ‘Sauce’ – what we at Londolozi, call Sheeba – basically a slow cooked tomato and onion sauce, which we then blend and reduce down for extra deliciousness!
The next important step is the ‘sauce’ – we call this Sheeba
Londolozi Sheeba
- 1 Tbsp Rio Largo or a good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large cloves garlic, grated
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 1 cup dry red wine (in South African lock down you can choose to omit this part!)
- 900g / 31.74oz crushed tomatoes
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tsp brown sugar
- Salt & Pepper to season
Method
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In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onions, and saute briefly until lightly golden. Add the wine and simmer a minute to boil off the alcohol.
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Reduce heat to medium-low and add the remaining ingredients.
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Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors and thicken the sauce.
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Taste and adjust for salt and sweetness, adding a little extra sugar if necessary if the sauce is too acidic.
- Allow to cool a little and blend until smooth.
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Use immediately or refrigerate and keep up to a week.
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This sauce also freezes well and i love to always have a stash in my freezer for those late night cravings!
Please let me know how you go in the comments section below. See you soon for more deliciousness with Londolozi’s Lockdown Larder!
Oh Anna. Thank you so much for sharing the pizza recipe. You know pizza is definetly our favourite. Love the idea of red wine in the sheba. We made pizza with sourdough. It came out very nice.
Thanks Marinda – yes, the wine definitely increases the Sheeba flavour! Ask Kim for one of her reds!
Hi – excellent! Thank you Anna and Abigail for sharing the taste of Londolozi ‘s pizza!
I may have to plan to stay longer next July!
The longer the better and the more delicious! x
Anna hope you are safe and well! your pizza is something we remember with fondness. Looking forward to having it again when the world is safer. Victoria
Thank you Victoria!
Okay, so we have the risen dough, the delish Sheeba sauce spread over ….. and then what? This is like an excellent cliffhanger …. what comes next! Ideas for toppings … temperature of oven for cooking as I don’t have the outdoor braai here in the UK. Thank you for all the mouthwateringly good recipes you post 🙂
HI Linda! after the sheeba, as i mentioned any kind of topping your heart desires! from anchovies to bacon or pineapple, feta, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, lobster….
If using an oven, the temperature would be best 180*C / 356*F until the cheese on top has melted and the base is nice and crispy! Enjoy 🙂
Anna, I love pizza🤗
Yumm! A favorite of mine to grill on the bbq. Sauce sounds great but why omit the wine just because it’s lockdown? Here in California, we can still buy wine in our grocery stores and I know Woolworth’s store in South Africa has a great wine department….just curious.
Hi Denise – we have had ‘lockdown prohibition’ in SA for the past few months, hence me saying that! We are now allowed to purchase wine again so no doubt, most people will add it in!
Aghhhh this sounds yummy!!
Under Chef Anna’s superb culinary management, the cuisine at Londolozi is world class. Her passion and talent for cooking and teaching is evident in every meal I have had the pleasure of enjoying. She and her excellent staff are true artisans with food. I hope to return to Londolozi in the future to enjoy many more meals.
Shout out to Sous Chef Eric as well!!
Mike Mort CEC
Thank you so much Mike – i have also passed your ‘shout out’ to Eric who was very happy! Look forward to your next Londolozi visit. x
Perfect Anna! I can’t wait to try this !
Boy does this look yummy! Love the addition of the wine in the sheba! Can’t wait to have it in person when we come back to Londolozi next July. Stay well and thanks for sharing!
Yum, will no doubt make a sourdough vase, but Def going to try your Sheeba sauce ! Thanks 😊👍
Anna, We love your pizzas and flatbreads too! The fun is never knowing how you will surprise us with the most delicous and creative toppings! Maybe we will try making the dough while we are locked down! Thanks for keeping the “Lockdown Larder” open! 😉
Thanks Michael & Terri – the dough is great and you can put anything you desire on top – if i was in Sarasota, i’d be using some of that delicious lobster!
Thanks as always Anna. My challenge will be recreating Jerry chasing hyenas from the bonfire!
Haha! Yes! Hope you’re well Al
Best meal at Londoz especially when done in the green egg and all down to the base, will be giving it a bash and let you know how it goes
Thought you’d both enjoy this blog! It was by Ali’s request that i wrote it!
oh yum, this looks so good! Thank you for sharing, I can’t wait to give it a bash at home
Oh, really love this. But I have never made pizza before, so…………….. what about oven temperature? When do we do the cheese? Thanks in advance……………….
Hi Irene – you can make your pizza with any cheese, however, mozzarella is the preferable topping. Your oven temperature should be 180*C / 356*F. You add the cheese after you’ve put your toppings on, so it can melt over!
Thanks Anna! I will have a go this weekend………………
Lovely, and you’re making me very hungry Chef Anna, as it is approaching lunchtime here in California!! Wishing you all the best!
Thanks Paul – hope you had a time to whip up a great pizza!
We’re having a bit of a heatwave at the moment, but plan on cranking up the home oven this coming weekend to make your pizza for the family!!❤️
It looks wonderful. Wish I was there!
Anna thank you for sharing your pizza recipe – sounds delicious. Trust you are all safe and well at Londolozi.