Homemade Margherita Pizza
Description
You can make great, delicious Neopolitan style pizza at home with simple ingredients and a bit of time.
Ingredients
16–18 oz. pizza dough, at room temperature
1/3 – 1/2 c. pizza sauce
4 oz. fresh Buffalo Mozzarella cheese, cubed or sliced, in strips
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, optional
3–4 fresh basil leaves, for topping
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Homemade Pizza Sauce: (makes 1 c.)
3 peeled tomatoes from a can of San Marzano peeled tomatoes plus 2 T. sauce from the can
1 t. olive oil
pinch of salt, to taste
Directions
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Pizza:
Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator prior to cooking.
Place dough in a greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Let rest for 2-3 hours or until dough is no longer cool to the touch. This is VERY important for a light, fluffy crust.
Homemade Sauce:
Combine the 3 tomatoes and the 2 T. sauce, oil, and salt in a small bowl; blend with an immersion blender until smooth or pulse a blender or food processor. Season with more salt, if needed. (This makes more sauce than needed. 1/3 to 1/2 c. sauce is needed for each pizza.) For a more rustic sauce, hand-crush the tomatoes or use a potato masher.
Pizza:
Preheat oven to 500-550 degrees F. Position an oven rack 8 inches from the top burner. Place a pizza steel (pizza pan) or pizza stone in the oven. Preheat oven to 500-550 degrees F. Preheat for 1 hour.
Place dough on a floured surface; shape and stretch dough into a 12-inch crust. Be sure the dough is adequately floured and not sticky. Try to get the crust as thin as possible in the center, about 1/4 inch thick.
Place a small handful of flour onto a pizza peel (tool for moving pizza); spread evenly to prevent the dough from sticking. Transfer dough onto the peel. Evenly coat with sauce, leaving a 1-inch crust all the way around. Add the fresh Mozzarella. Do not overcrowd. Top with a dusting of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, if desired.
Slide the finished pizza onto the steel/stone.
Bake for 5-6 minutes or until pizza is 80% done. Turn on the oven broiler; broil on High for 2-3 more minutes or until the crust is just starting to char.
Remove from the oven; let cool.
Serve topped with fresh basil leaves and a circular drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
2-3 servings.
*While a pizza stone works, a pizza steel transfers more heat and gets hotter, rendering a better crust.