Now, we are going to make the most famous pizza in the world, the pizza Margherita is named after the queen of Italy, the birthplace of pizza. The Moorish Margherita boasts sweet tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fragrant basil, believe me, this could be the best pizza you ever make. Every amazing pizza starts with an incredible dough, so add one liter of water in a bowl, the water should not be cold or warm, just straight from the tap. That is going to make eight to ten pizza for a family cook up, dissolve ten grams of salt in the water then add fine Italian flour and some fresh yeast. Give it a really good mix and get kneading until the dough becomes elastic and springy, this should take around ten minutes. Once done, let your dough relax for about an hour and then divide it into ten equal pieces.
Around about the size of a cricket ball, the dough needs about six hours to proof in the fridge or a cool place, even better, make it the day before and leave it overnight. Next, onto the base, just use your fingers to shape it now when it comes to the ingredients, tinned tomatoes are really, really important so just really nice organic plum tomatoes scrunched up with your bare hands, they are not cooked, no garlic, no herbs, so simple we are going to place four tablespoons of th fantastic tomatoes, a little bit of salt goes on top of our tomatoes and then add mozzarella, the mozzarella is beautiful but its not wet for the classic margarita and then onto that we will ut about six beautiful leaves of torn basil and a little Parmigiano-Reggiano then a little drizzle of extra virgin oil.
Over it goes slide it onto a floured board, jiggle it about to stop it from sticking and get it int the oven. If you are cooking in a normal oven at home, add it to a floured baking tray or pizza stone at the bottom of the oven at about 246 degrees and it takes about fourteen minutes. The pizza Margherita has a delicious flavor and the cheese is delicious, the tomatoes are so sweet, the basil got such perfume and you got that lovely sort of crisp but spongy dough.
Ingredients;
- 1/2 recipe homemade pizza dough
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves roasted garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup your favorite pizza or tomato sauce
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
- 2 plum tomatoes, sliced
- a handful of fresh basil
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
Instructions;
- Prepare pizza dough through step 5, including preheating the oven to 475°F (246°C).
- Cover the shaped dough lightly with plastic wrap and allow it to rest as the oven preheats.
- Mix the olive oil and chopped garlic together in a small dish. Brush the top of the dough lightly with olive oil.
- Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling.
- Top with pizza sauce, then the mozzarella cheese slices, then the tomato slices.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and top with fresh basil and pepper. Slice pizza and serve immediately.
- Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator. Reheat as you prefer.
- Baked pizza slices can be frozen up to 3 months. See pizza crust recipe for instructions on freezing the pizza dough.
