Italian | Pizza Margherita
Posted on September 2, 2011
A classic. For this pizza, I bought the dough from the pizza counter at Whole Foods, if you are more ambitious, you can make your own.
Yield: 1 12-inch pizza
Ingredients
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes (Pomi or San Marzano brand)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped or julienned
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 pound mozzarella, sliced 1/4-inch thick
kosher sea salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 ball of pizza dough
Method
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and, if you have one, place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. My pizza stone needs to be preheated for 30 minutes, check your instructions.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper and process until smooth. Drizzle sauce over pizza dough and smooth to spread evenly, leaving 1/2-inch border along the edges of the dough.
Sprinkle basil leaves on top of sauce, then top with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Then top with mozzarella slices and bake for about 8 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and the crust edges are golden brown.
(I put the pizza together on a pizza peel, then transfer to the preheated pizza stone. I sprinkle cornmeal on peel and stone to keep pizza from sticking.)
Transfer pizza to cutting board. Let rest 1 minute. Cut into wedges and serve.
(Ref. Sur La Table's "Pizza Margherita" recipe, "Classic Italian Recipes Every Cook Should Know" class.)