You'll need a pizza stone or solid baking sheet measuring 14x11"/35x28cm.

Preheat oven to its lowest setting.

1 Begin by warming the flour slightly in the oven for about 10 minutes, and turn the oven off. Sift the flour, salt, yeast and sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre of the mixture. Add the olive oil and pour in the water.

2 Mix to a dough, starting off with a wooden spoon and using your hands in the final stages of mixing. Wipe the bowl clean with the dough, adding more water if there are any dry bits left, and put on a flat work surface (there shouldn't be any need to flour this).

3 Knead the dough for three minutes or until it develops a sheen and blisters under the surface (it should be springy and elastic).

4 You can now either leave the dough on the surface covered by the upturned bowl or put in a clean bowl and cover with clingfilm lightly oiled on the side facing the dough. Leave until it looks doubled in bulk, which will be about an hour at room temperature.

5 Having made the dough and left it to rise, preheat the oven to 230c/450f/Gas 8, along with the pizza stone or baking sheet.

6 Tip the dough onto a work surface that has been sprinkled generously with cornmeal to prevent it from sticking.

7 Knock all the air out of the dough and knead for a couple of seconds to begin shaping it into a ball. Dust your rolling pin with cornmeal and roll the dough out to a circle that is about 10"/25.5cm in diameter.

8 Finish stretching it out with your hands, working from the centre and using the flat of your fingers to push the dough out.

9 It doesn't need to be a perfect round, but you want it to be a fairly thin-based pizza, with slightly raised edges. Top with a desired topping.

Per serving: 182 Calories (kcal); 14g Total Fat; (67% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 2132mg Sodium Food Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates