Step by step to make the perfect Swingers’ pizza

Want to recreate the fabulous food on offer at Swingers? In the second of a regular series, we head into the kitchen at Swingers to find out how they make the seriously good street food that helps to fuel a night of crazy golf. Here’s how the dough-slinging superstars at Pizza Pilgrims (served at the City venue) create the perfect Margherita pizza.

Pizza Pilgrims define the very essence of Italy. Their obsession with fresh, original ingredients from the motherland (or should that be the land-of-the-mama), give them a culinary edge and make them one of the leading pizza creators outside of their Naples-inspired roots. The simplicity of their Margherita hides an explosion of intense flavours that would make the Pope scream. But don’t take our word for it. By following these simple instructions you too can make your tastebuds dance. Just remember… it’s all about the fresh and original ingredients. And since we’re currently living through a time when some food products can prove hard to find on the shelves, we’ve suggested alternatives where possible.

Did you know: Margherita pizza is named after the Italian name for the flower daisy. The original pizza chefs would place the cheese in the middle, with the green ‘petals’ (basil) adding the final visual touch to make it look like a flower. Ciao! 

THE PIZZA PILGRIMS MARGHERITA  

1. Make your dough with double zero flour (we import ours, called Caputo Blue, from Naples), plus water, salt and yeast. Plain flour is fine if you can’t find double zero.
2. Be patient. For the perfect pizza dough to evolve, it needs to be left to go through a double fermentation overnight for 18 hours in total. First in a single block of dough, and then for a few more hours the next day after you’ve separated it into smaller balls.
3. We stretch the base by using the ‘Neapolitan slap’ technique. You’ll have lots of fun perfecting this.
4. Then add fresh tomato sauce to the base. If you can’t make it fresh, dig out a jar of passata from the cupboard and use some of that.
5. Follow that with a scattering of small pieces of parmesan cheese. No parmesan? Cheddar is also great.
6. You’ll need plenty of basil.
7. Then add a light mozzarella (avoid buffalo mozzarella, as that’s too milky). Cream cheese will also work if you can’t find mozzarella. 
8. Put the pizza in the hottest oven you can.
9. Keep an eye on it! Once the sides are charring and browning and the base has crisped, it’s ready.