Rustic Pizza's

I'd read about these ceramic 'pizza stones' so finally got around to buying a couple of them. They came with a metal tray-thing with handles that you can put them on as well as pizza wheels for serving. They really do make an amazing difference - you heat them up in the oven, prepare your pizza's, then slide them onto the hot stones and cook as normal in a hot oven. The bases came out really crispy. As we're trying to eat more vegetarian dishes this is one that I wanted to get right - when you spend time making lovely home-made sauces for the top from home-grown produce, it's just as important to get the base right too. I can't begin to describe the delicious aroma that comes out of the oven while its cooking!

I had to hunt around a bit for them - but any good kitchen shop should have them. I think the name of the shop where I got these from was 'House of Knives'. Expect to pay around $15 each; for the price of one bought pizza you get to make brilliant home-made ones....forever!

I used organic bread flour for the base and packet yeast. I made these in my bread maker; just as quick to make by hand though following any simple bread recipe. For the toppings - I had some pesto left over from a pasta dish the previous day which I spread on the base first, and then made up a tomato sauce as follows;- put a couple of tbsn's of good olive oil in a heavy-based pan and throw in some chopped garlic. Add a chopped spanish onion and lots of vine-ripened, garden fresh tomatoes cut into chunks, and here you can add any other vegies you might have in the fridge or garden like capsicum, zucchini etc. Also add plenty of basil & oregano, a bit of sugar & seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simer and stir occasionally until most of liquid cooks out and you're left with a nice thick sauce. Spread over pesto on pizza base and add any other toppings like parmesan/mozzarella cheese, olives and chopped sundried tomatoes. The base is also really nice if you throw a bit of polenta onto the pizza stone before sliding pizza onto it. Bake 230 degrees celsius for about 15-20 mins.