Pizza Margherita

I wish I could tell you a back-story about why Sarah and I decided to make pizza margherita the other night, but there really isn't one. We didn't even really plan on making it: I sent Sarah a text message that said something along the lines of "I'm grocery shopping and the ingredients for this pizza are on sale. Let's make it." There were no shenanigans -- I put the pizza together and Sarah played music in the living room and debated aloud about what grad school to attend.

There is probably a something I could write about here to make you want to bake this pizza.  I could wax poetic about tomatoes in summer time or picking basil in the rain in your yard. I could probably tell you an amusing story about the first time I tried to make my own pizza dough and ended up with a sad little lump of dough that never rose (this recipe is much easier than that one). But I won't. This is a simple recipe and the pictures speak for themselves.

A note about the dough: a lot of people I know are intimidated by the thought of yeast breads. This is the easiest way to make a yeast-risen pizza dough I've ever tried -- you don't even have to proof the yeast. You dump everything in a bowl, knead it together for a while, and then let it rise. Easy. If that still seems like too much work, most grocery stores sell pre-made dough you can roll out when you get home.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. dry yeast

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. hot water

Olive oil (about 1 tbsp)

For the Pizza:

Roma tomatoes (we used 7 of them - we like tomatoes)

Handful of fresh basil

1 cup (more or less) Parmesan cheese, shredded or shaved

Fresh mozzarella, sliced (enough to suit you)

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and halved

Corn meal

For the Dough:

Start your dough two and a half to three hours before you want to eat. In a large-ish bowl, sift together flour, yeast, and salt. Add a glug of olive oil -- about a tablespoon's worth. Add the hot water (I just use tap water that I've let run hot for a minute or two). Stir it into something close to a ball. 

Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and knead it together until it's smooth, adding more flour or water as needed. If the dough's too hard to work with, cover it and let it sit for five minutes or so until it's more pliable. When it's done, the dough should be smooth, elastic, and only slightly sticky to touch. It shouldn't actually stick to your hands. Coat the inside of the bowl with oil (no need to use olive oil -- just use vegetable oil or whatever you have on hand). Gather up your dough and return it to the bowl, turning it once so it's coated in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume -- usually two to two and a half hours.

For the Pizza:

Preheat the oven to 450. 

When your dough's totally risen, return it to the floured work surface and press all the air out. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest while you get the toppings ready. 

You can put this pizza together pretty much however you want to, but here's how we did it. I chopped four Roma tomatoes into small pieces and kind of smooshed them over the sink to get as much moisture out as possible (you like that word "smooshed?" We only use technical cooking terms here). The three remaining tomatoes we sliced into rounds. Slice up the mozzarella and grate the parmesan.

Roll the dough into something approximating a circle. Sprinkle your baking stone or pan with cornmeal before transferring the dough from the work surface to the pan. Brush the crust with olive oil and rub with the halved garlic clove (this gives you a garlic flavor that won't overpower the rest of the ingredients). 

Sprinkle with the chopped tomatoes and half of the parmesan cheese.  Arrange the mozzarella over the pizza and top with the sliced tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and bake at 450 degrees until the crust is browned. Let the pizza cool for 15-20 minutes and top with fresh basil and the remaining parmesan... and viola! Pizza margherita.