I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of a delivery pizza because I’ve discovered you can make a tastier version in the time it takes for the average delivery to come. And not only that the pizza dough and tomato sauce costs a fraction of the price and can be so much healthier too. This budget but authentic Italian pizza base and sauce makes four 9-11 inch pizzas for about £1 (yes, that’s for all four) so top this Perfect Pizza Crust exactly as you like it!

Lots of people are too worried that yeast cookery is hard work to give it a go but it’s not as complex as you think. Pizza dough is really straight forward and you can make this base and have it in the oven in an hour. And what’s time consuming about leaving it in a warm place while it’s doing its yeasty business? There’s no double proving with this recipe – it rises once and is then ready to shape and cook.  I use a mixer with a dough hook so pop that on for the 5 minutes mix time while making the sauce, which takes basically the same amount of time.  Then I can leave the sauce to cool a bit before blending and the dough to rise while I get on with other things. It’s also a very forgiving dough so if you need to leave it a little longer just make and leave in a room temperature rather than warm location for longer.

This is such a lovely recipe to make with kids. The dough is beautifully stretchy and pliable so you don’t really roll it out as such. In the traditional Italian way you gently pull and prise the dough into shape. This makes it brilliant if you have several children together as they can all make their own pizza without the need for lots of utensils. It’s certainly a fave for playdates at my house. The kids also love ripping up the mozzarella ball and choosing exactly what they like on their pizza top.

You can also make this healthier by using half wholemeal and half white flour. You will find the dough a little tighter and have to add a drop more water to the mix but it’s so delicious even fussy eaters won’t clock it. Also there is no added sugar in this pizza at all which considering the average take-out pizza more than 100pc of an adults recommended sugar allowance, that is a big difference. You can also add some chopped carrot and red, yellow or orange pepper to the sauce when you cook it to get a few more veggies in there too.

If you prefer a fatter base then just use more dough per pizza (this amount will then make less pizzas of course) or you could allow the base to rise again a second time. You will need to cook it for a little longer but the beauty is you won’t have a stodgy base like some bought bases can be.

Try this Perfect Pizza Crust and I reckon you will be a convert too!