11 Nov 2026
Matt Adams takes the family to the Harpenden bakery’s inaugural cooking class…
I love pizza. It’s one of those amazingly versatile dishes which is not only defined by its toppings (even pineapple!), but also the particular preparation of the dough, tomato sauce and choice of cheese.
You can eat takeaway pizza from Dominos and it will taste completely different to one ordered from Nonno’s, or sit in at Cosa Nostra and enjoy a slice which is nothing like you might find in Zizzi’s. Whether independent or chain, no pizza is really the same, and that’s one of the reasons why I love it.
But enough about me, I wasn’t hands-on during a pizza-making session at Harpenden’s new artisan bakery Bread Ahead, I just looked after the words, the pictures, and the obligatory taste-test at the end…
One of the highlights of Bread Ahead’s flagship site at Borough Market in London is the baking school, where you can learn how to craft croissants, dabble with doughnuts and roll out a roulade, alongside various other creative courses.
This ethos is also at the heart of the recently-opened Harpenden venture, which welcomed its first bakers over half-term for a pizza the action in the brand new cooking classroom upstairs.
Youngsters from across the town were given the opportunity to get down and doughty by creating their own Margherita masterpieces under the supervision of tutors Catherine and Victor, using the same ingredients and processes behind the bakery’s daily dose of Italian heaven.
My partner Hillary and six-year-old daughter Connie were tasked with producing pizzas which didn’t disappoint my high expectations.
The hour-long class was in two parts, focusing on different aspects of the process. With the ideal pizza dough allowed to rest and rise for a few hours, the first segment was a demonstration of dough-making, and then in the best Blue Peter-fashion, they used some which had been made earlier for their own pizzas.
Catherine’s simple recipe for pizza dough involved just four ingredients: 250g of bread flour, 4g of salt, 10g of fresh yeast (or 5g of the dried concentrated version) and 150g of water. It couldn’t be easier.
These components are mixed together in a bowl until there is no residue on the sides, and then transferred to the table for kneading, with a sprinkling of semolina or polenta to avoid sticking (don’t use flour, as this tends to burn).
The technique takes a while to master, but involves holding with one hand and stretching out with the base of the other. Gradually the gluten in the flour starts to develop and after about six to eight minutes the dough is stretchy and malleable.
The pizza-makers were encouraged to hold it up and see if they could see the light through it, but not stretching it so thin that it broke.
Once it had reached this consistency it was returned to a ball shape and put back in the bowl, which is then covered with cling film, a disposable shower cap (!) or a damp tea towel, and left at room temperature for a few hours until it doubles in size.
The finished dough can be stored overnight in a fridge, so you can do the prep ahead of making the actual pizza the following day…
Presented with the pre-made dough, the youngsters (and Hillary) placed it on top of a semolina-sprinkled pizza peel, one of those wooden trays with a handle which are used to put the finished pie in the oven. The semolina – or polenta – not only stops it from sticking but also produces a satisfying crispy base.
Then it was a case of pushing the dough out from the centre to stretch it into a disc, spinning on the fingers to make it bigger, but always keeping within the confines of the peel. Our pizza-makers produced a variety of shapes as well as the conventional circle, including squares and hearts.
This was probably the most tricky part of the process, and Connie struggled with stretching her dough sufficiently, requiring intervention from Mummy to ensure it didn’t end up as some amorphous mass in the centre of her peel.
“It was very squidgy and gooey,” Connie explained. “It was fun to make but a bit hard.”
Once everyone was happy with their finished base it was time to add Victor’s homemade tomato sauce, a mix of chopped onion and garlic fried until softened and then added to tomatoes – probably a tin at this time of year – and some fresh herbs, before being blended until smooth.
All that is really needed is a couple of tablespoons, and how much you spread it towards the edge determines whether you want a puffy crust or not. Then tear up a ball of mozzarella and scatter across the top, add some chilli flakes or basil to taste, and you’re done.
The finished products were then slid off the peel into the oven, and allowed to cook for about 10 minutes at 230 degrees in a fan-assisted oven while we munched on the pizzas made earlier by Catherine and Victor.
There really is something exceptional about a simple Marguerita made well and served piping hot. The highlights were definitely the dough and the sauce, which just goes to show how individual the making of a pizza can truly be. Change something here or there and you end up with a totally different pie.
Crunching into the crust of Hillary’s spicy slice, having already tasted Connie’s cheese-packed fare, and it’s fair to say there would be nothing left of either by the time we got home… “Buonissimo!”
- Bread Ahead will be holding a variety of classes at their new Harpenden venue over the coming months – keep an eye on their Facebook page for details.
