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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

July 27, 2011: Margherita Pizza Recipe

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My husband and I love pizza but I get tired of making the same old pepperoni and black olives or white pizza with alfredo sauce. The other night I was watching the Food Network (which I’ve been accused of doing nonstop) and all the show episodes focused on pizza. Ever since then I was craving pizza so I decided to try this one with a thin crust and no sauce.

Note: I have some special tools in my kitchen because I love making pizza; if you don’t have them you can still make this recipe but it won’t turn out quite the same. Using this recipe, you should have a thin, crispy crust on the bottom that's hard to achieve without a pizza stone.

Margherita Pizza

Dough:
¾ cup warm water
1 ½ t. yeast
1 ½ T. olive oil
¾ t. sugar
¾ t. salt
2 – 2 ½ cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add olive oil, sugar, salt and about 1 ½ cups of the flour to your stand mixer or food processor. Gradually add remaining flour until mixture forms a ball. Place in a greased bowl and let rest in a warm place until dough is doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thin circle. Fold into quarters and carefully place on a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal. Transfer the dough from the peel to a pizza stone set on the lowest rack of your oven. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the bottom starts to brown and the top bubbles. Remove from oven, using the pizza peel.

Brush the hot dough with 2 T. olive oil mixed with 1 head roasted garlic*, minced, and 6 large basil leaves, cut into thin slices.

Layer on top:
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
8 ounces mozzarella bocconcini, sliced

Put topped pizza back in the hot oven for 5 minutes. Turn oven to broil and cook for another 5 minutes, until toppings are sizzling. Remove from oven and transfer from pizza stone to cutting surface.

Serves 2 – 3

* To roast garlic: take an unpeeled head of garlic and place in the middle of a piece of foil. Sprinkle it with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake in the oven or on a grill at a moderate temperature for about 20 - 30 minutes.

9 comments:

  1. I would eat this in a red hot second if any one in my family ate tomatoes. I'm the only normal one in the family! Sounds great Candy!

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  2. You know, Tami, you could make this in an individual size just for you. And if you want to make it for your whole family, substitute the tomatoes with another vegetable they like, such as olives or bell peppers, even asparagus or artichoke hearts.

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  3. Wao! yummy dish. my all friends like it. even when we think to throw a party, we simply go to jim's home . His mother make it for us from pizza .

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  4. This looks awesome! Going to have to try this for my next cookout or tailgating
    pizza party .

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  5. Thanks for stopping by, Javed and Adam. I love this pizza because it isn't greasy and heavy and hope you enjoy it, too!

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  6. I love this food. The picture looks so yummy...

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  7. Pizza is one of those foods that looks as good as it tastes, I think! Let me know how it turns out when you try the recipe, Juliana.

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  8. Thanks for sharing this recipe it's definitely a really good reward for my brother who got his Basset Training last week. But still work on the dough first. I'm not really the cook-type but I'd like to do something special for him.

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  9. Great recipe. I've always thought the Margerita is the best combination possible, especially if you can find some very fresh buffalo mozzarella. The site below might also interest you - it has good info on the best pizza peel to use at home.

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