edmos1

Below is my Pizza Margherita, The classic simple pizza inspired by the queen, and made to represent the Italian Flag.

Pizza Margherita

1 Recipe Basic Pizza Dough (Below)
6 oz. grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 T fresh basil thinly sliced
4-5 fresh Roma or Italian tomatoes, thinly sliced



Preheat oven to 500° F.
Roll out pizza dough. Brush dough evenly with olive oil. Spread mozzarella cheese on pizza leaving a 1/2 border for crust. Top with tomato slices and basil.
Bake pizza for 10 to 15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
Remove pizza and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing.

Basic Pizza Dough
1 cup warm water (between 95° and 115° F.)
2 T yeast (2 tablespoons, I like my dough a little yeasty. You can use less)
2 T honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt 3 1/2 cups flour

Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low until well blended. Add the yeast and mix. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.

Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Punch it down so it deflates. Drizzle with olive oil. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.
This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.

Lunchbox7

Sprinkle oregano on top. It totally makes the pizza.

almostaugust

Yeah, dont forget the sprinkle of oregano on top. otherwise it sounds super.

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davik

Sounds tasty, too bad I already have the sausage for the pizza I'm planning for this weekend...

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justin218

I always thought you sprinkled basil on top... damn, well, nobody ever complained.