Jill Dupleix's Greek Pittas

Ingredients

Prep: 30 min plus proving
Cook: 7 min

Makes 12 soft, yeasty little flat breads

Serve with a Greek salad or dips

450g white plain flour
1 tsp fine-ground sea salt
1 tsp white sugar
2 sachets (14g) fast-action dry yeast
300ml tepid water
1 tbsp olive oil

METHOD: Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast together in a bowl. Stir in the warm water and olive oil and mix until it comes together as a dough.

Add extra flour if sticky, extra water if dry. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 10 min until smooth. Place in a large, clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 2 hours in a warm place. Punch the dough down, and knead for 1 minute. Cut the dough into 12 pieces, shape into balls, and set aside for 10 min. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Roll each ball into a fine, flat oval. Bake on a lightly floured tray for 6 to 7 min, until puffy, soft and pale. Wrap in a slightly damp tea towel until cool. To serve, place in a hot, dry pan for a minute or two until warm.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article551953.ece

South of the Border Tuna Melt

I don't normally think of fish as a comfort food, but there is nothing like the combination of crispy bread, melting cheese and the soft, creamy flavours of tuna in mayonnaise that makes me content. This version has Mexican-inspired flavours and is low in fat and calories. Try dipping the sandwich in tomato ketchup or salsa.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients
1 tin tuna in spring water, well drained
1 tbsp fat-free Greek yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp light mayo
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots (or sliced spring onions)
1 heaped tbsp chopped red pepper
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp chili powder
juice of a quarter of a lime
Olive oil spray
4 slices thin-sliced bread
40g Half-fat cheese, grated

Method
In a small mixing bowl, break up tuna with a fork. Add yoghurt, mayo, shallots, red pepper, chili powder, coriander and lime and mix well.

Coat one side of each slice of bread with oil spray. Bring a frying pan to medium-high heat, adding oil spray. Place two slices of the bread in the pan (oiled side down). Top each slice with half of the cheese. Pile half of the tuna on each, and press down gently with a fork. Lift up a corner the bread; when it is nicely browned (about 5 minutes), top each with the remaining bread slices (oiled side up). Press down slightly. Carefully flip the sandwiches -- a combination of a spatula and your fingers works best. The melt is done when the bread is browned and crispy (about another 5 minutes) . Slice in half and serve hot.

Savory Fennel Biscuits

These ring-shaped Italian biscuits are a delicious snack with tea or wine. The cooking method is similar to bagels -- boil and then bake. Despite the two-stage cooking process, these biscuits are simple to make. You may need to adjust the moisture quantities slightly depending on the flour. Black pepper or crushed chili can be used instead of the fennel and anise.

Makes about 25 biscuits.

Ingredients
250g strong bread flour
100ml white wine
75ml olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp anise seed

Method
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. When you have a soft dough, knead dough on a clean surface until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes. Place dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rest 20-30 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Pinch tablespoon-sized pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Between your hands, roll ball into a 6-8 inch long piece. Join the ends of the length of dough by gently pinching and twisting them together. When you have five rings finished, place them in the boiling water. When the rings rise to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a tea towel. Continue forming the dough rings and boiling them.

Place the rings on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake for 35 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool and store in a sealed container.

For the Love of Pizza

I love pizza, and I suspect most of you do, too. So many of my food memories involve the tantilising trio of tomatoes, bread and cheese. For our birthday parties, my mother used to organise a 'make your own pizza' activity, and many a Friday night was spent with the family rolling dough and chopping the toppings. In college, the takeaway pizza is ubiquitous. This, of course, included arguments with flatmates over whether the leftovers were best eaten cold or reheated the next day and whether the flavour 'developed' by not putting it the fridge.

Despite these happy memories, pizza can get a bad rap. It is often slapped with the 'junk food' label, and we are meant to feel that pizza is a guilty pleasure. It needn't be so. It can be made in a calorie- and fat conscious way and has been endorsed as a having health benefits. Bring in my 'Skinny Pizza'. Made with what may seem like a very small amount of flour, if rolled thin and cooked to perfection, it provides a large surface area for lots of lovely toppings. Where you can go wrong is with the cheese. Here I use half-fat cheese, but if you don't like that idea, you can certainly use a full-fat cheese, just keep to a small amount. For the toppings, the sky is the limit. If you are being mindful of fat and calories, keep to vegetable toppings.

Once you get the hang of it, the process does not take as long as you might think. You can even make a quickie, non-cook sauce by blending tomato puree (paste) with a bit of water, a touch of olive oil, basil, oregano, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper.

Skinny Pizza
Serves 2

For the dough
50ml hot water
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp honey
50g strong white bread flour
50g strong wholemeal bread flour
good pinch of salt
extra flour for kneading and rolling

Add the yeast and honey to the hot water and let sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add water mixture and mix with you hands until you have a soft dough. If it is too sticky or too wet, adjust accordingly.

Turn dough out on a clean, floured surface and knead for a few minutes. When you have a smooth non-sticky dough, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with clingfilm. Let prove in a warm place for around 45 minutes.

While the dough is proving, prepare the sauce and toppings. After the dough has risen (and doubled in size, more or less), punch out the air on a floured surface and roll out very thin, dusting rolling pin as needed. When rolled, he dough should fill a pizza pan 35cm (14") in diameter or the equivalent rectangular baking tray. (Don't be too fussed if the dough is a bit rustic in its shape).

For the sauce
olive oil spray
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
300ml passata (tomato sauce, in US terms)
a splash of water
1 heaped teaspoon dried basil
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
bay leaf
dried chili pepper (optional)
a generous pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil spray until soft and translucent. Add garlic and fennel seeds and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth and turn down to a simmer. Cook until nicely thickened, about 30 minutes.

For the toppings
1/2 a small onion, sliced
1/2 a red pepper, sliced
5 mushrooms, sliced
6 black olives, pitted and chopped
10 thin slices Spanish chorizo or pepperoni
1 clove garlic, sliced (optional)
50g half-fat cheddar, shredded

Place the sliced onion, pepper and mushrooms on a microwave safe plate and cover with clingfilm. Puncture the clingfilm in the centre. Microwave a full power for one minute. Leave to rest.

Carefully tip the vegetable juices from the plate into the sauce. Stir. Remove bay leaf and dried chili and discard. Spread the sauce evenly on the pizza base. You may not need all the sauce, depending on your preferences. Layer the vegetables, olives, garlic, meat and cheese. Sprinkle with additional oregano and spray with olive oil spray.

Bake in a hot (220C/450F) oven for about 10 minutes, checking and turning halfway through.

Slice and enjoy.