Cherry Tomato and Bocconcini Pizza

Chef floWer's Note:

Bocconcini means small mouthfuls of cheese they are semi-soft, white and rind less unripened mild cheese and have a spongy texture. Originally made only from the milk of water buffaloes but cows milk is used now. Bocconcini are now available in supermarkets and packaged in whey or water. The originally recipe asked for 3 x 250 gram of cherry tomatoes but I thought it's a bit excessive as the 14 cm pizza can hold only about eight tomatoes. I topped ours with basil as I found rocket a little bitter. You welcome to skip the dough and use store buy a pizza bases or Lebanese bread, it's up to you. This recipe came from Sunday Hearld Sun, Sunday Magazine on 18 March 2007, it's a Donna Hay recipe

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 4 small p ...

Pizza Dough

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon caster sugar
• 3/4 cup water, lukewarm temperature
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Topping

• 32 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup oregano leaves, freshly chopped
• sea salt, to taste
• black pepper, freshly cracked to taste
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 180 g bocconcini, drained and torn
• 100 g baby rocket, to serve

Directions:

1. To make the dough, place the yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.
2. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and oil stirring with a butter knife until a dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
3. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes or until the dough is doubled in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 230oC/450oF/Gas 5.
5. For the topping, place the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl and crush with a potato masher. Divide the dough into four and roll out each portion to a 14cm/5.5 inch round. Place on greasy baking trays and top each pizza with mozzarella, parmesan, bocconcini and tomato mixture and cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden and crispy.
6. Top with rocket to serve.

Reviews

[katew]

Great early dinner for us tonight. I used a pre made pizza base and lots of mini boconcini balls cut in half. I did not use rocket but spinach shredded from the garden and also threw in a few mushrooms. Very enjoyable !!

[evelyn/athens]

I made focaccia and went with that as the pizza base and used this topping. It was delicious. I had bought fresh mozzarella this morning and this was a great recipe to use it in as all the ingredients were so complementary. Loved the rocket - really packed a punch in the taste.

[Andi of Longmeadow Farm]

Outstanding delicious oh so tasty gooey fun. Another unbearably hot day in early September. The farm is dry, no one felt like cooking in the hot kitchen so we came upon this treasure. I followed this exactly, except I put the pizza on the grill so as to not heat the kitchen even further. I had already grabbed some Bocconcini from our local Wegmans. I had some fresh basil and some special dark lettuce and of course the obvious abundance of large cherry tomatoes. I had to quick and grab a picture before the whole pizza was gone. Ironically, I had already made pizza dough this morning so this was a perfect delicious treat, to finish a hard, but satisfying day on the farm. Thank you so much Chef floWer, as always you have a winner!