When Tim Comes to Dinner

Geoff and I had Tim for dinner on Saturday night. We decided to make pizza for dinner and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was the first time I'd made the pudding and also the first time I've made my own dough from scratch and both turned out quite well so I was quite proud of myself. The pizza toppings were a little on the odd side (canned corn not such a good idea after all but I liked the turnips which I fried a little in olive oil before putting them in the oven). The recipes are as follows. The pizza dough recipe is based on a recipe from taste.com.au (but it since seems to have disappeared) and the Sticky Date Pudding recipe is one I found somewhere on the internet but, again, altered a little.

Pizza Dough
7g sachet dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine 3/4 cup warm water, yeast, sugar and salt (what salt?) in jug. Whisk to dissolve. Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for 5 mins or until you see bubbles on the surface.

Sift flour into a bowl. Add yeast & oil mixture to it. Mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes until elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Stand in warm place for 25-30 minutes or until dough has doubled size.

Use fist to punch dough down. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Top with whatever you like and bake for 5-15 minutes.

Sticky Date Pudding
Cake:
250mls soy milk
100mls water
200g dates (chopped in half)
1 tsp bicarb soda
115g margarine
115g brown sugar
200g white SR flour
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Sauce:
100g golden syrup
200g brown sugar
150g margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence

Cake: Preheat oven to 190C. Put dates in saucepan & cover with milk & water & simmer until dates are soft. Make sure they are soft! Take off heat & stir in bicarb soda. This will froth. Leave to cool.

Beat together the margarine & sugar until pale & creamy. Add date mixture & stir. Mix spices with flour. Sieve & fold into date mixture. Put in 20x20 tin and bake for approx. 30 mins. When done prick the pudding all over and pour half the hot toffee sauce over the pudding and serve the rest with the pudding.

Topping: Melt all ingredients in saucepan & simmer for 5 mins without stirring.