I’ve had such a celeb filled couple of weeks I’m going to lose all sense of reality soon! Anyway, last week I got invited to celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo’s house…get me. To make pizza. As you do.

Okay, I’ll confess, it wasn’t just me…there were a few other people there too, *tsk*, but how many celebrities would be brave generous enough to open their front door and welcome a group of strangers into their home? And greet them with hugs and kisses, and pour them large glasses of prosecco? Well Gino did. 

I was there to get the low down on a project Gino has been working hard on with Highgrove Foods to create “Bake with Me”, a range of fresh, ready-made pizza doughs that are available in the chilled section of Asda now.

Bake with Me is ready in three easy steps – simply unroll, add your toppings, and bake.  The fresh, ready to bake base includes a live yeast culture, making for a great taste that’s quite unlike your typical ready-made or frozen pizza base. It really is that easy, and better still there is absolutely no mess! Anyone that makes pizza dough will know that the whole kitchen ends up covered in flour. And you can still feel slightly virtuous at having ‘made’ your own pizza because you get to put which ever toppings you want on it. Even better, get the children involved in making their own dinner.

So in between sups of prosecco we also got to get the pizzas ready to bake but whereas my pizzas tend to be loaded with toppings apparently this is all wrong so here are the tips I picked up from Gino…

Gino’s top pizza making tips

• Less is more (keep your pizza simple)
• Don’t use too much cheese (it’s not cheese on toast it’s a pizza!)
• Don’t use buffalo mozzarella (great tip, apparently it’s too wet for pizza)
• Leave a fingers width of no tomato sauce all around the edge of the pizza
• Put your toppings on at the end of baking otherwise you end up with burnt and dried up herbs etc..

Fridays tend to be the night when we have pizza but making the dough (especially if I’m making a gluten free one too) can be pretty time consuming so I will be on the look out for the Bake with Me range. What I was most excited about though, was that the dough doesn’t need to exclusively be used for pizza…and as soon as I can get to an Asda to buy some I am making these amazing, utterly delicious hazelnut spread and banana whirl thingys that Gino made…in literally two minutes! I have a whole collection of ideas whirring around in my head that I want to try out!

So, whilst these pizzas are not totally homemade or as authentic as the real thing they certainly are handy and if you don’t like making things from scratch they are ideal. They come in three different sizes, and one comes with a tomato and herb sauce and in a family size.

I am always shocked at how expensive ready made pizzas can be (and aren’t take away ones horrendously priced) after all it doesn’t cost much to make dough and tomato sauce but I was was pleasantly surprised at the low cost of Gino’s Bake with Me range. I can’t tell you exactly how much (probably the prosecco’s fault), but very affordable.

Oh, and Gino’s house was luverly, five ovens! Yes, five ovens * jealous face*,  and you can send me all the chocolate but I’m not telling you where it is, and he’s moving soon anyway!