Recipe Index

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

pizza margherita

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.)