Pizza Party

This is a great thing to do if you have friends coming round for an informal meal, especially if there are kids involved!  
You make the dough and prepare the toppings ahead of time so then everyone can make their own pizza base and choose their own toppings.
I haven't listed pizza toppings in the ingredients as it's such a personal thing.  However, I always have a bowl of tomato sauce which I make by sizzling some chopped onion and garlic in plenty of olive oil then throwing in a tin of plum tomatoes, seasoning generously, boiling for five minutes then blitzing with my hand blender (or you can sieve it).
I like to prepare a good selection of cheeses (definitely mozzarella then maybe parmesan, goats cheese or a favourite blue), meats, fish and veg and have them on plates and in bowls on the pizza making table.
All the pizzas in these pics come from this one recipe.

Easily makes enough pizzas for 4 adults and 4 children

Ingredients

600g Strong White Flour, plus extra for sprinkling

200g Semolina Flour, plus extra for sprinkling
2 teaspoons Salt

500ml Warm Water

2 teaspoons Sugar

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

2 sachets (7g) Fast Action Yeast

• Tip both of the flours into a large bowl and stir in the salt.
• In a jug or bowl, measure the water then add the sugar, yeast and olive oil, stir to dissolve.

• Pour the liquid into the middle of the flour stirring with a fork until it starts to come together in a dough, work the dough around the bowl to collect up all the flour.
• Liberally dust your work surface with flour and begin to knead the dough by stretching it out and folding it back in on itself repeatedly.  It will need about 10 minutes kneading until it is smooth, stretchy and not too sticky.

• Dust the bowl with flour and put the ball of dough in it, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1 - 2 hours until doubled in size.
• When the dough is well risen uncover and punch it down to knock the air out.  This is now ready for pizza making. 
• Preheat the oven to the hottest setting, I normally do 220-230C (fan setting).

• Cut and divide the dough into as many pieces as you need.  It is surprising how a small ball of dough stretches out, a palm-of-your-hand sized ball is fine for a child's pizza and about double that for an adult.
• Put a few pizza trays or baking trays into the oven to preheat.
• For children, sprinkle an area of your table (or a couple of boards) generously with semolina flour.  Give each child a small ball of dough and let them stretch and flatten it (with small children I stretch the dough out for them) then top with sauce, toppings and cheese.  Carefully transfer the pizzas onto the preheated baking trays (sprinkle the trays with semolina first) and bake for 6-10 minutes, depending on the size and thickness, until golden brown and bubbling.
• For adults, give them a preheated tray (sprinkled with semolina) to stretch and shape their dough on directly, this makes for a crispier base.  Bake the larger pizzas for 8-12 minutes, depending on size and amount of topping.