Top 8: get a pizza the action with these shop-bought bases
Back to base-ics: gather the kiddies around and get them involved in assembling their perennial pizza faves
As summer primary school holidays fast approach, a useful form of entertainment for children is making pizza. Ideal for a family or party, with varied tastes, once the base is ready, toppings can be chopped and grated, swished and swirled. And then they can be eaten. A win, win.Â
This survey focuses on what pizza bases are available in supermarkets and Italian shops, but there are also good versions in farmers’ markets. Volcano has a pizza kit at markets and at NeighbourFood, and a useful instruction on how to stretch the dough is online at volcano.ie. Arbutus Bread stalls in markets have good dough (you may need to order it), and there is also good dough in Iago, Princes Street, Cork. All worth trying.Â
Use just a lick of pizza sauce or chopped tomatoes on the base. A lot of sauce will stop the pizza from crisping up. Pre-heat a very hot oven 220-250C, and ideally first heat the baking tray (it can be an upside-down roasting tin) or pizza stone and rub with a little olive oil. My trick is to add the fillings when the base is on the baking tray so it’s not heavy to move. Start in the centre with a dessertspoon of pizza sauce, working outwards to leave a margin to create a rim. Finish with toppings of choice.
Enough here for a 10-inch pizza, this worked best of all bases, giving a crisp and tasty finish. We topped it with a third of a drained can of chopped tomatoes with a little salt, thin slices of salami, buffalo mozzarella. All finished with a fine grating of parmesan. Perfectly delicious. Bake at 220C for 10 minutes. From The Boot, South Link Business Park and Delitaly, Marlboro St, Cork.
Score: 9.5
Olives, cheese, tomato sat well on this thin 10-inch base which crisped up well. A good buy which, like other forms of bread dough, freezes well. Good ready-made pizza here too. From the Amberely Dolce & Salato shop and bakery at Farmers Cross, near Cork airport. Bake at 220C for 8 minutes.
Score: 9
Two stonebaked pizza bases are made by The Artisan Pizza Company in Dublin. Flour, water, salt, yeast and olive oil are added to soya flour which Piero says adds flavour and acts as ‘a conditioner in relaxing the dough’. It comes with a recipe for Pizza Margherita. A good, crisp base works well when cooked at 250C for 5-7 mins. Easy to use, a good result. Widely available.
Score: 8.75
These four were the thinnest of our selection and very light, but strong enough for toppings. A comfortingly short list of ingredients too – flour, water, olive oil, salt, yeast. Bake at 200C for 8 minutes. 1.7% salt is high compared to others. Tasty, though. Made in Italy for this fourth-generation Cork bakery.
Score: 8.25
A longer than expected list of ingredients has flour, water, olive oil, wholemeal wheatflour, salt, yeast, malted wheatflour, dried yeast, potato starch, sunflower oil. It delivers a substantial base which has a satisfying, tastily wholesome bite without being weighty. Made in Britain with flour from Italy. Salt is high enough at 1.33%. One only in the pack.
Score: 8.25
Two bases are made from flour, water, salt with no mention of yeast, salt quite high at 1.24%. Tasters found this chewy instead of crisp. Made in Ireland. We bought in Aldi, but we also found elsewhere for €3.99.
Score: 7
One base here has flour, yeast, some emulsifiers, soya lecithin, flour treatment agents, semolina, salt, rapeseed oil and wholemeal spelt. It looks quite thick, but when baked seems to compress and crisps up quite well. Enjoyed by tasters, but not a favourite. No indication of where made, but packed in Co Fermanagh.
Score: 7
Two bases are made from wheat flour, water, durum wheat semolina, salt, yeast, wholemeal spelt flour, olive oil salt 0.83%. Tasters liked the crispiness, but would have liked more flavour. Pack and website do not specify where produced.
Score: 7
