Valentine Warner's Sardine Pizza

Get creative with your pizza stone on the new Weber Original Charcoal Pizza Oven with this recipe provided exclusively by celebrity chef Valentine Warner.

Method:

• To make the dough, pour the water into a large bowl and gently stir in the sugar and yeast. Put aside for around 10 minutes until the water has a thick beige foam floating on top. Add half the flour and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Don’t worry about clumps in the flour, as these will soon disappear.
• Gradually add half the remaining flour and continue stirring. Once it is all incorporated, add the remaining flour and the salt, crushing it between your fingers. Mix with clean hands. As soon as the dough forms a soft, spongy ball, turn it out on to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. By this time the dough should be smooth, elastic and no longer sticking to your hands.
• Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with oiled clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (45–60 minutes). Now make the onions for the sardines before returning here to finish the dough.

Whilst the dough is proving get on with making the topping:

• Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to comfortably fit the onions.
• Drop in the onions with the bay leaf and thyme leaves and chilli and sauté very gently, stirring often they must not colour at all. Cook for around 15 minutes or until totally soft.
• Drop in the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
• Only when the onions are very tender and nothing less add the vinegar, and sultanas and keep cooking until the liquid has evaporated.
• Add the sugar stir it in and cook until dissolved but not caramelised.
• Season with salt and transfer to a bowl. Add 1 ½ tbsp of the olive oil and the lemon juice.
• Season the onions with salt and allow them  to cool.
• Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knock back with mild blows from your fists for a couple of minutes.
• Tear the dough in half and stretch, or flatten with a rolling pin, until around 25cm in diameter working on a well flowered surface. Shovel into the preheated pizza oven.
• The onion mixture is to be divided, as needed, over the two pizza bases.
• Lay 4 sardine fillets on top of the onions and then scatter the fillets  with a little more salt then a dribble of oil before scattering over the parmesan the parmesan.
• Bake for 4-6 min in the Weber pizza oven.
• Remove from the oven. Grind some black pepper and  then scratch over with a little lemon zest.
• Scatter with a good amount marjoram or chopped mint (marjoram is that much better) and the pine nuts.