Pizza Margherita

Margherita Pizza

Written by on in Brunch, Main Course, Pizza
Margherita Pizza
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Margherita Pizza

Recipe by GeeDeeCourse: Brunch, Main CourseCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Not Hard
Servings

8

slices
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Calories

206

kcal
Resting Time for Dough

1

hour 
Total time

1

hour 

45

minutes

The classic Margherita pizza, homemade pizza base topped with Italian tomato sauce and smothered with fresh mozzarella cheese. Add fresh sliced tomatoes for a popular finish

Ingredients

  • For the Pizza Dough

  • 3.5 g ½ sachet dried yeast

  • ½ tsp sugar

  • 125 ml lukewarm water not hot

  • 200 g plain flour All-purpose is good enough plus extra to dust

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1½ tbsps. olive oil

  • cornmeal or semolina flour to place on the baking tray

  • For the Topping

  • 125 g Pomodoro Tomato sauce see the recipe for Pomodoro Sauce

  • 225 g fresh mozzarella balls drained and cut into cubes

  • olive oil

  • salt to taste

  • ground black pepper

  • fresh basil

Directions

  • For the Pizza Dough
  • Whisk yeast sugar and water in a jug. Stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
  • Place flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and oil.
  • Using your hands, mix the dough until it comes together and is smooth.
  • Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2/3 minutes
  • Make the kneaded dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl turning the dough around to lightly cover the whole surface with the oil and cover with cling wrap.
  • Set aside in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes to an hour until it doubles in size.
  • Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for another 5/8 minutes or until smooth.
  • Cover with a damp clean tea towel and allow to rest for 30 mins
  • preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C). Gas Mark9 and place the oven rack on the lowest shelf. Place a large flat upturned baking tray on the rack to heat up. (Needs to be large enough to hold your Pizza)
  • Once the dough has rested knock it with your fists to knock the air out of it and roll out pizza base on a floured surface to the desired size to about 1cm thick
  • Line another flat up-turned baking tray with a sheet of baking parchment (this will make it easier to transfer to the oven) and sprinkle it with cornmeal or semolina flour
  • Place the rolled out pizza dough onto the baking tray and using your fists gently push from the centre out to produce a rim all around the outer edge, the centre of the pizza should be about 5mm thick and the rim about 1cm
  • To prevent the pizza toppings from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the shaped dough lightly with olive oil.
  • Using your fingers, gently make indentations into the surface of the dough, this will prevent bubbling
  • For the Topping
  • Top the dough evenly with Pomodoro sauce, leaving about 1/4-inch crust around the edges.
  • Scatter the chopped mozzarella cheese over the sauce and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
  • Season with black pepper.
  • Baking your Pizza
  • Open the oven and slide the oven rack with the heated baking tray out, now carefully slide the baking parchment with your pizza on onto the heated baking tray
  • Cook in the middle of the oven for 18 minutes until golden brown. (You may want to turn the Pizza halfway through baking to get an even bake)
  • Two minutes before the end of the cooking, scatter over the basil and continue to cook.
  • Serve hot and enjoy

Recipe Video