Pizza Night {prize draw promotion}

Nights in are the new black.

A night out can be a lot of fun, but so can a night in especially when you have your friends and family with you!

One of my favorite nights in is Pizza Night with my little family! 

What cartoon characters love pizza? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

It is my all time favorite childhood cartoon and I am proud to say my girls love it too! It's a common pizza/movie night combo for us!

We make individual pizzas with all our favorite pizza toppings. Anything goes! 

Well, with in reason I mean we don't go as far as the turtles themselves, see suggestions by them below! 

Then after we're done with dinner we cuddle up with some dessert pizza and enjoy the movie! It's a great way to get the whole family involved and spend time together!

Pizza Dough

makes 4 individual pizzas, half the recipe for 2

400g Sainsbury’s Strong Canadian Bread flour

16g/2 pouches of Sainsbury’s Fast-Action dried yeast

pinch of salt

280ml luke warm water

extra virgin olive oil

In a mixing bowl mix the flour and yeast together, once combined put in the pinch of salt and mix again. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the warm water, plus a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until it comes together as a wet-dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a floured surface, I always start out with a light dusting then add about another two light dustings while kneading. Once it’s smooth and elastic, lightly oil a separate bowl for the dough ball to rest cover with clingfilm and rest for 25 minutes.

While it’s resting lightly oil two baking sheets/trays and heat the oven to 200C.

Once it’s rested gently break it into four separate pieces. Use a sharp floured knife if you want a more even division of the dough. Roughly spread out into a circle or an oval as we did to fit on our trays.

Top with sauce and a choice of your favorite toppings, suggestions listed below, before baking in the oven for 18 minutes or until the edges just start to turn brown. After 10 minutes I switched the pizzas from the top shelf to the bottom shelf to insure even coloring for all the pizzas, but you don’t have to do this. Serve immediately with salad or any sides that you like!

Suggested Pizza Toppings

passata flavored or with added oregano and garlic salt to taste

tomato paste, just a squeeze

cheese, mozzarella is always a favorite

ham/sausage/pepperoni/pineapple/mushrooms/peppers/onion/olives/etc… 

Ninja Turtle Suggested Pizza Toppings:

Pepperoni & Ice Cream
Jelly Bean & Sausage
Anchovie & Peanut Butter
Whipped Cream
Sashimi
Bananas & Sausage
Cereal (Raisin Bran, Cornflakes, Coco Puffs)

Then for dessert we had pizza again! This is inspired by an American treat sometimes called cactus bread. I used mixes for this one to save on time and cost! Start this about 10 minutes before the pizzas are done or just after you've rotate the pizzas if you have done that.

Dessert Pizza

1 pkg (145g) Sainsbury’s pizza base mix

1 pkg (225g) Sainsbury’s crumble mix,

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference or make your own)

100g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp of milk

Follow the instructions on the back of the pizza base mix package, leave to rise in front of the already heated oven. Once you've eaten your amazing pizzas from above your pizza dough should be risen, poke a few holes in it with a fork before spreading over the cinnamon sugar, then spread over the crumble mix. There will be leftover crumble mix because you don’t need very much to cover the top of this pizza. Bake in the oven according to the packaging. Both the pizza base and crumble mix bake for about the same amount of time.

Before it’s out of the oven make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar with the milk. Once it’s out of the oven while it’s still warm drizzle over the glaze. You might have a little leftover, but that’s okay you can use it as dip for the dessert pizza. Enjoy! 

That is one of my favorite nights in, but I have had many date nights in with my husband and occasionally I'll have a wine night in with my girl friends. So.... 

Prize Draw Closed

notes: In association with Sainsbury’s, all opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page for more information. Ninja Turtle topping suggestions are taken from the first season of the original show. Pizza dough recipe adapted from Gino D'acampo's Italian Home Baking

“Hot Doughnuts Nice and Fresh!"

I've tired to make fried doughnuts a couple of times now and have not been successful. 

I've baked doughnuts with no problem at all so, I didn't really think I'd have that much trouble frying them. Well, I was wrong about that. 

After reflecting I figure it’s probably due to over proving, probably not kneading right or enough, and not regulating the temperature of the oil.

It had to be one or all of those things!

Baked doughnuts are easier, but fried taste so much better! Who doesn't like fried dough?

So, using the first recipe I tried, I tried again!

This time with the results I wanted. They made the house smell delicious! I covered mine in Vanilla Sugar to give them an extra flavor.

Vanilla sugar is easy to make! Just place a vanilla pod, new or used, in a jar of sugar. Some stores now sell it if you don’t use vanilla pods often.

After rolling them in sugar they can be filled with jam or cream. They can be iced or made into rings, they are pretty versatile so use what you like!

I prefer a plain fresh doughnut without all the extra stuff.  So, I made these “Hot Doughnuts Nice and Fresh!" just the way I like them!

If any of my readers are also from Reading (Berkshire) then they will know where the phrase comes from! You cannot have walked down Broad Street without hearing it as the picture below informs us!

Fried Doughnuts:

500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour

50g/2oz caster sugar

40g/1½oz unsalted butter

2 free-range eggs

2 x 7g sachets instant yeast

10g/¼oz salt

150ml/5fl oz warm milk

130ml/4½fl oz water

Sunflower Oil or Crisp n Dry, to fry

vanilla sugar, to coat

For the dough, place all ingredients except a quarter of the water, into a stand mixer bowl. Mix on low until combined. Slowly mix the rest of the water into the dough and beat with the dough hook for 3-5 minutes or until the dough comes together and comes away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be sticky, but it shouldn’t be sticking to the side of the bowl. Also you should be able to handle the dough without it sticking to you.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for an hour or until doubled in size. Tip the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface, and knock it back by kneading it a few times. Do this part by hand, especially as you’ll have just cleaned your dough hook and bowl!

Divide the dough into 10 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball. I just folded the dough into itself to form a ball; I didn’t want to handle the dough too much. Place all balls onto a lined baking tray and allow to rise for another hour or until doubled in size.

In a large sauce pan, using sunflower oil or Crisp n Dry (what I used) heat the oil to160C-180C. Keep an eye on this, as I had to keep turning my heat up and down to keep it within the range I wanted. Lower each doughnut into the fryer, cooking each side for about 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon and immediately roll in the vanilla sugar so that the hot fat makes the sugar stick to the sides.

Set aside and leave to cool. Only just slightly! Fresh Hot Doughnuts are Nice and delicious!

notes: I showed off my failed doughnuts here! Recipe is adapted from The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into Showstoppers by Linda Collister. The Game of Throne's Image is from Spotted: Reading Town’sFacebook Page.