Nadiya Hussain’s Smoky Aubergine Pizza
These easy individual pizzas from Nadiya's Simple Spices are topped with a spiced charred aubergine mix and pieces of creamy burrata.
From the book
Nadiya’s Simple Spices
Simple, flavour-packed recipes for the whole family.
Demystifying the notion that cooking with spices is complicated.
From easy breakfasts and lunches, to side dishes and classic bakes.
Introduction
There is nothing traditional about pizza for me. This topping is simply a mixture of all the things I love – like smoky, spicy aubergine and creamy burrata – mashed up into one.
Ingredients
| For the dough: | |
|---|---|
| 500g | strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting |
| 7g | fast-action yeast |
| 1 tsp | sugar |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 20ml | olive oil |
| 300ml | lukewarm water |
| For the topping: | |
| 2 large | aubergines |
| 6 cloves | garlic, crushed |
| 1 tbsp | ground cumin |
| 6 | anchovy fillets |
| 4 tbsp | mayonnaise |
| 2 tsp | chilli powder |
| 2 | burrata |
| For the coriander oil: | |
| 200ml | oil |
| 2 large handful of | fresh coriander |
| pinch of | salt |
Essential kit
You will need: a food processor.
Method
Prep: 26 minutes (+ proving)
Cook: 45 minutes
For the dough, start by putting the strong bread flour in a large bowl. Add the fast-action yeast, sugar and salt to the flour and mix to combine.
Make a well in the centre, pour in the oil and lukewarm water and bring the dough together. Knead the dough by hand or use a dough hook in a food processor to knead on a high speed till the dough is stretchy and smooth. Cover and leave in a warm place till doubled in size.
Meanwhile, make the aubergine topping. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Pierce the aubergines all over, pop onto a tray and bake till black all over.
Take the aubergines out and leave to cool slightly. Peel the skin and put the flesh into a food processor with the garlic, cumin, anchovies, mayonnaise and chilli powder and blitz to a paste. Set aside.
Take the dough out, tip onto the worktop and knead the air out. Divide the dough into four equal pieces, shape into round mounds and put onto a tray. Cover and leave to prove till doubled in size.
Dust the worktop and roll out the four dough balls to 20cm rounds, leaving a raised crust around the edges.
Divide the aubergine mix among the four pizza bases and smooth out into an even, generous layer. Take half a burrata for each pizza, tear and add to each pizza.
Bake the pizzas for 12–15 minutes till the edges have puffed up and browned. Do this in two batches if you don’t have room in your oven.
Meanwhile, make the oil by putting the oil, coriander and salt in a blender. Take the pizzas out of the oven, brush the edges with the oil and drizzle more over the pizza
+ I would highly recommend making a double batch of this dough and taking it to the stage of shaping the bases and then freeze them. You now have pizza bases ready for whenever you want to have fresh pizza.
