Pizza Margherita
photo by Kitchen Witch Steph
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Yields:
-
1 14 inch pizza
ingredients
- 1 lb plum tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped or
- 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained, seeded and chopped
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1⁄2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese (about 6 oz.)
- 1⁄3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 basic pizza dough, recipe The Art of Making the Perfect Pizza Dough
- 1 -2 tablespoon cornmeal, for sprinkling on baker's peel
- 6 -8 fresh basil leaves, torn
- 1 garlic clove, split to rub on crust (optional)
directions
- Put pizza stone on oven floor if using a gas oven; on the lowest rack if using electric oven (remove all other racks in either case).
- Preheat oven to highest temperature (500). Allow about 1 hour to preheat the stone.
-
Prepare the Topping:
- Combine tomatoes, salt and 2 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Simmer stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to about 1 cup (10-15 minutes). Tranfers to bowl to cool.
- Toss together mozzarella and remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
- Shape the dough: See Recipe #236785.
-
Assemble and bake the pizza:
- Sprinkle baker's peel with 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Carefully slide dough onto peel, then jerk peel once or twice: If dough sticks, lift it and sprinkle a little more cornmeal underneath.
- Optional: rub slit clove of garlic over dough.
- Spread tomato sauce evenly over dough, leaving 1/2 inch border and top sauce with mozzarella.
- Line up far edge of peel with far edge of stone and tilt peel, jerking it gently to start pizza moving. When edge of pizza touches stone, quickly pull back peel to transfer pizza to stone (do not pull pizza back).
- Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbling, about 8 minutes. Slide peel under pizza to remove from oven, then scatter basil leaves on top.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
-
I had to the good fortune of getting to eat a slice of this when my friend made it tonight for dinner. It was heavenly! I know she tinkered with it some like she always does when cooking anything but I am sure she will show up here soon with her review. I know she used a pizza seasoning in the sauce with garlic, oregano, fennel, etc. It really jazzed it up. I donated fresh basil from my garden. I will be making this for myself directly after the ZWT4. Too good!
-
OK...I'm infamous for tinkering with recipes until it turns out the way I like it, so it is no surprise that I gave this one a bit of an overhaul and the result was a 5-star Pizza Margherita. For the sauce, I added Penzeys pizza seasoning, 5-6 cloves of freshly minced garlic and some salt and pepper to taste. Instead of grated mozzarella, I used thinly sliced fresh mozzarella and topped the pizza with fresh grated parmesan. After I pulled the pizza out of the oven, I sprinkled chiffonade basil over the top and voila!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Galley Wench
Oro Valley, Arizona
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside . . . Chardonnay in one hand . . .chocolate in the other; the body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"