Home Made Caprese Pizza with Cheesy Garlic Bread

24 hours after day surgery and here I am, back on deck. Well technically I'm back on the couch but I'm up and about at least. Everything went well yesterday. I won't have the actual results of the surgery until I go back to my specialist next week, but the big thing for me is that it is over and done with. Spending half of the day waiting to be called to theatre and then the other half desperately trying to shake off that groggy fuzzy headed feeling is not pleasant. I was so happy and relieved to get home and just curl up with Mr B, who I have to say is taking such good care of me, always making sure my heat pack is hot and making sure I have everything I need.

It's hard to believe that this time last year we were coming towards the end of our European Honeymoon. I think right about now we would have been in Paris.....

Over the last few weeks we have been re-living our trip by reading our travel diary each night and looking at all of our photos, but we have also been trying to re-create some of our favourite meals from when we were away.

When we were in Italy I fell head over heels in love with the Caprese Salad, the combination of fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil just blew my mind and we both became more than a little partial to a thin and crispy pizza so what better way to reminisce than by making our own Thin and Crispy Caprese Pizza and serve it with a side of Cheesy Garlic Bread?

Now I know the idea of making your own pizza dough can freak alot of people out but stay with me here. This recipe is really simple and makes two large pizzas and apart from a little bit of kneading here and there, you pretty much just throw everything in a bowl!

To make the pizza dough you will need:

1.5 cups plain flour
1 tspn yeast
1 tspn caster sugar
1 tspn table salt
1 tbspn olive oil (we used a basil infused olive oil which I would absolutely recommend if you can find it!)
1/2 cup warm water

Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a medium bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the oil and enough water to make a soft dough. Knead for 10 mins or until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough a in large oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until roughly doubled in size.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. I usually try and avoid covering my bench in flour so just knead it in the bowl!

Divide the dough in half and roll on a floured surface or between two sheets of lightly greased baking paper until it's roughly 30cm round. Don't worry if it's not a perfect round base, it will give it that rustic look!

Pre-heat oven to 240C and grease two oven or pizza trays. We use a pizza stone which we just lightly dust with flour.

Place the base on the prepared tray and top with your choice of toppings. Bake for 15 mins or until bases are browned and crisp.

For the Caprese toppings we used:

2/3 cup passata sauce
125g mozzarella, thinly sliced
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil.

Spread  the pizza base with passata and top with mozzarella and roughly torn basil leaves.

And seeing as we are being extra good and having a thin and crispy pizza base we deserve to splash out on the side dish right? Mr B loves this Cheese Garlic Bread and whilst it isn't for the faint hearted with all of it's butter and cheese, it was the perfect accompaniment to our pizza!

For the Cheesy Garlic Bread you will need:

1 x baguette, sliced in hallf horizontally and then in half vertically.
40g butter, softened
Crushed Garlic, to taste - I used about 3/4 tbspn because I like my garlic bread extra strong.
Salt and Pepper
Shredded Cheese

In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic and season with salt and pepper.

Spread the cut sides of the baguette with the garlic butter and place on a baking tray. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake the garlic bread with your pizzas (240C for 15 mins) and just keep an eye on it, it might only need 7-10 mins and as soon as it's golden and toasty, it's done!

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx