How to Make Easy Homemade Pizza Bread Recipes

I love movie nights: a glass of chilled white wine and some easy food. Pizza is one of my favorite easy foods. Rather than make the exact same pizzas I like to top my pizzas with similar ingredients but with a complimentary variation. The following recipes are simple variations: both easy and tasty—similar yet quite different. Perfect for a night in with the girls or the boys.

If your Saturday night in is with the kids, use tomato sauce for a base and let them choose their own toppings—ham and pineapple, chicken and sweetcorn, cheese and spring onion, peppers and salami or leftovers. My daughter loves chopped up sausages and sliced red onion and weirdly bolognese with grated parmesan cheese on top—albeit not on the same pizza!

First up is the pizza base. I usually make lots of dough and freeze individual dough balls in oiled freezer bags. When I want a pizza for dinner I leave one of the dough bags out, and once defrosted (a couple of hours) Hey presto! I have pizza dough ready to roll. Easy pizza for a Saturday night in.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp of good balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove finely crushed (love garlic, use two cloves)
• 10 to 15 cherry tomatoes halved
• 2 spring onions finely diced or snipped
• Small handful of fresh thyme leaves
• Small handful of fresh basil leaves
• Sea salt and black pepper to season (optional)

Method

1. Drizzle one tbsp of olive oil over the pizza base, using a pastry brush lightly brush over the base.
2. Add the crushed garlic to the remaining tbsp of olive oil with the balsamic vinegar, whisk to mix and leave to one side.
3. Scatter over the halved cherry tomatoes.
4. Place the herbs evenly over the pizza and add the diced spring onions.
5. Drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and olive oil with the crushed garlic mix, season and bake (as above).

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 10 to 15 cherry tomatoes halved
• Small handfull of fresh sage leaves
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
• 200g of brie cheese diced into small cubes
• 50g of red cheddar cheese grated
• 50g parmesan cheese grated
• 1 tbsp of finely diced green chilli flakes (optional)
• Sea salt and black pepper to season (optional)

Method

1. Marinate the sage leaves in the cider vinegar for about 10 minutes (sage has a strong flavor and marinading the leaves in the cider vinegar softens the flavor to compliment the cheese and the cherry tomatoes).
2. Scatter the haved cherry tomatoes and cubes of brie cheese over the base and sprinkle with the thyme leaves.
3. Add the grated cheddar and grated parmesan cheese.
4. Pat dry your sage leaves and add evenly to your pizza. They will crisp up lovely and compliment the cheese flavours.
5. Sprinkle over the green chilli flakes, season and bake (as above).

• To enjoy your pizza without the fuss, don't forget to make a batch of dough and freeze it. Come Saturday all you have to do is leave the dough out in the morning or if you are home for the afternoon leave it out a couple of hours before you want it.
• I chose to opt out of the usual tomato base sauce: I think these recipes work better without it, but that doesn't mean you have to, however I would recommend trying it as it is first.
• If you want to add more toppings to your pizza bread any of the following listed will also work. Singular or as combos: cooked chicken and bbq sauce; smoked bacon and sweetcorn; spicy salami rings and pineapple chunks; goats cheese and slices of red salad onion.

1. Thinly sliced chouriço
2. Cubes of smoked bacon
3. Cooked chicken
4. Cooked turkey
5. Spicy salami rings
6. Small shrimp
7. Tuna flakes
8. Red peppers, roasted, skinned and cut into strips
9. Yellow peppers, roasted, skinned and cut into strips
10. Courgettes, cut into thin strips
11. Thinly sliced mushrooms
12. Thin slices of red salad onion
13. Pineapple chunks
14. Sweetcorn
15. Sweet chilli sauce
16. Barbecue Sauce
17. Pesto
18. Pine nuts
19. Mozzarella cheese
20. Goats cheese