Leeds restaurants: Wood Fire Dine chef shares the recipe for his award-winning pizzas to create at home

He bought a wood fire oven on his return and is now an award-winning pizza chef, opening his Rothwell restaurant Wood Fire Dine in 2017.

As they await the green light to reopen their restaurant on May 17, Mark and his wife Victoria have launched pizza kits for diners to enjoy a taste of Italy in their own homes.

Mark has shared his classic margherita pizza recipe exclusively to the Yorkshire Evening Post:

For the dough:

750g "00" flour

450ml water

7g instant yeast sachet

8g salt

1 tbsp Extra Virgin olive oil

For the pizza sauce:

2 tins plum tomatoes, hand crushed

1/4 tsp salt

Grated Mozzarella cheese

Basil

The dough process

Add the water to a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast into the water. When all the yeast has dissolved, add the salt and 1/3 of the flour and mix by hand until a thick soupy texture.

Slowly add the remaining flour and continue to mix by hand until the dough comes together. Add the oil and knead until absorbed.

Empty the dough onto the countertop and knead for 5-10 mins until the dough becomes smooth and the gluten develops making the dough strong - if the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour and knead until the dough is workable.

Let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before cutting into six portions of around 200g each. Shape into dough balls.

Lightly oil the balls and place into individual round plastic pots and place into the fridge to cold prove overnight.

To make the pizza

Pre-heat a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan on the stove top and turn your grill on high.

Place the pizza dough into flour and gently press outwards, pushing the air to the edge of the crust.

Repeat until the dough is approximately 10" round and wipe any excess flour from the base.

Place into a hot frying pan and add 80g (2 tablespoons) of tomato pizza sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.

Check the base for brown "leoparding" spots on the bottom of the pizza, when the underside is cooked place the frying pan under the grill for a couple of minutes to brown the crust and evenly melt the cheese.

Finish with basil and enjoy!