What sets pizza margherita apart from a regular cheese pizza are the high quality ingredients, including the type of cheese, tomato sauce used, and of course the fresh basil leaves and olive oil drizzle. If you’re new to making pizza, this Margherita Pizza Recipe is a great one to begin with.
Ingredients
- Dough
- 1 envelope (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water, 105°F to 110°F
- 5 to 5½ cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- Extra virgin olive oil, for greasing the bowl
- Tomato Sauce
- One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
- 1 generous tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 or 4 torn fresh basil leaves
- Sea salt
- Pizza
- One ball pizza dough, rested and ready to shape (recipe above)
- 2 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn into cubes
- 6 tablespoons crushed tomato sauce, with an added glug of extra virgin olive oil (recipe above)
- 2 pinches finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)
- Fine sea salt (optional)
- Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 5 leaves fresh basil
- Semolina flour for dusting
Preparation
Dough:
1. Stir yeast and warm water together in a large bowl until it starts dissolving. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. After the yeast has dissolved, add 3 cups of the flour and mixing gently until smooth. Slowly add 2 more cups flour and work in gently. Add the salt only after you smell the yeast working (sort of a warm beer smell). Add up to 1/2 cup more flour a little at a time until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl but is still sticky.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Slap the dough onto the counter, pulling it toward you with one hand while pushing it away with the other, stretching it and folding it back on itself. Repeat the process until the dough is noticeably easier to handle, 10 to 15 times, then knead until it’s smooth, stretchy, soft and still a little tacky. This should take about 10 minutes, but here, feel is everything.
4. Shape the dough into a ball and put it in a lightly oiled glass bowl, rolling it around enough to coat it. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, (about 2 to 2½ hours).
5. On a floured work surface, cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll into balls. Dust them with flour and cover with plastic wrap for another hour, or until they have doubled in size.
Tomato Sauce:
Combine canned tomatoes, olive oil, basil and salt into a large bowl and crush with your hands, feeling around for any bits of skin and hard cores. Allow to sit for about an hour.
Pizza:
1. Position a pizza stone on the lower third of the oven and preheat at maximum temperature for one hour.
2. Lightly dust a pizza peal (or cookie sheet if using) with semolina flour to prevent the pizza from sticking and shape your dough on the peel.
3. Spoon the tomato sauce evenly over the pizza, using the back of the spoon to spread the sauce, starting from the center and stopping about 3/4-inch from the edges. Sprinkle the Parmigiano over the sauce. Place the mozzarella preferably on areas where the sauce is thinnest. Then drizzle of olive oil very lightly over the pizza.
4. Bake the pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden brown. Then add basil leaves on top of the pizza and continue to heat until they slightly wilt before pulling out.
