Save on your shopping with our best offers | Shop offers now
Mini rocket & ricotta pizzas
by Chetna Makan.
Rocket is often scattered over pizza for a hit of freshness — here that idea is taken a bit further by baking it into the ricotta topping
Makes6
CourseStarter
Prepare35 mins
Cook30 mins
Total time1 hr 5 mins
Plusproving
320g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
50g fine semolina
1 tsp fine sea salt
7g easy bake yeast
Topping
250g ricotta
100g pecorino romano, grated
90g wild rocket
½ lemon, zest and juice
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
250g mozzarella
65ml olive oil
Combine the flour, semolina, salt and yeast in a bowl and gradually add 250ml warm water. Mix with one hand until you have a soft, shaggy dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes until it is smooth and stretchy. (You can also make the dough in a freestanding mixer using the dough hook attachment.)
Sprinkle a large baking tray with a little flour. Divide the dough into 6 portions. Take each portion and, working around the dough, pull the outside edges into the middle to make a small, tight ball of dough. Set the dough balls seam-side down on the tray, leaving space between them to expand as they rise. Cover with a light, slightly damp tea towel and set aside in a warm place to prove for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 240ºC, gas mark 9; put a pizza tray or large baking tray in to heat up. Boil a kettle. In a bowl, mix the ricotta and pecorino together. Put 60g rocket in a colander; pour over just-boiled water. Leave for 1 minute to wilt, then squeeze out any excess water. Roughly chop and add to the ricotta with the lemon zest, nutmeg and a little black pepper
Roll a ball of dough out to about a 17cm circle. Spread some of the ricotta mixture over the dough, then tear over some mozzarella and drizzle with a little of the oil. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. Transfer to the baking tray 2 at a time and bake for 4-5 minutes, until crisp on the edges and golden. Once baked, toss the rest of the rocket leaves with the remaining oil and the lemon juice, season and scatter on top of the pizzas. Serve the pizzas as they’re ready or keep them warm under foil and reheat all together before serving.
