Pizza Margherita! (CONTEST IS CLOSED)
Today Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day
was published! Time to start baking from it, so I’m posting one of our favorite doughs from the book. I have to admit it took a while to decide which one to share, since our favorite seems to change with our moods. This Olive Oil Dough is fantastic for a thin crust, a thick crust and so many worldly flatbreads. No matter the technique you decide to try, you’ll love the results.
I like to make the classic Pizza Margherita, it’s the ultimate in Italian toppings. In fact, the colors resemble the Italian flag and the pizza was named for the Italian queen, Margherita, because she fell in love with it. Nothing but tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. So pure and so tasty.
Pizza Margherita
Olive Oil Dough from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day:
3 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Yeast
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
7 1/2 cups (scoop and sweep) unbleached all-purpose flour
Toppings:
1/3 cup tomato (Sauce recipe p. 109 or drain diced tomato straight from the can)
3 ounces Fresh Mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
Fresh Basil
Olive oil for drizzling over the top before baking
Pinch of salt
Flour, cornmeal or parchment for the pizza peel
To make the dough: Use our dump and stir method of mixing the dough in a 5-quart Container with Lid, using a Danish Dough Whisk or wooden spoon. Then cover the container, not airtight and let it rest for about 2 hours on the counter. The dough can then be used right away, but it is much easier to handle once it has been thoroughly chilled. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks!
To make the pizza:
Preheat your oven to the highest setting, which will be 500 to 550°F, with a pizza stone in the bottom 1/3 of the oven. Depending on the thickness of your stone this can take between 20 and 40 minutes.
Pull out an 8-ounce piece of dough from your bucket and quickly form it into a ball, no more than 30 seconds of work. Let it sit on the counter while you gather your toppings.
Roll the ball out into a 1/8-inch-thick round. If the ball is resisting just let it sit for about 5 minutes and it will relax and allow you to work with it.
Sprinkle a Pizza Peel with flour. Spread the tomato over the dough.
Place the chunks of cheese over the sauce and drizzle with the olive oil.
Check for doneness in about 8 to 10 minutes, turn the pizza around if it seems to be browning on one side more than the other. It may take up to 5 more minutes.
Let the pizza cool slightly, so the cheese can set a little before cutting with a Pizza Cutter. This is best done on a cooling rack if you want to keep a crisp bottom crust.
Using the freezer to save even more time
You can freeze my doughs anytime during their batch life, for up to two weeks. Make half-pound (orange-size) balls and wrap them well before freezing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then use as usual. With the assistance of your freezer, there are three more ways to save even more time:
- To freeze prepared 1/8-inch thick dough disks, set up cookie sheets with parchment paper and freeze prepared dough disks on the parchment. As soon as they’re set (about 30 to 40 minutes), stack them, leaving parchment paper between disks. Pack into gallon-size ziplock bags, then freeze and use within three weeks. Bake them still frozen by placing, un-thawed, on a greased baking sheet, assembling the pizza, and then baking in a preheated oven. If you bake right on the parchment you can place it directly onto a preheated baking stone.
- To freeze a pre-baked pizza crust: Bake the crusts “blind”, docking (puncturing) them well with a fork, removing them from the oven when they just begin to brown (about four minutes). Check for puffing at one minute and dock again if you see any or you’ll end up with pita bread. Allow to cool on a rack before separating crusts with parchment or wax paper and freezing in a ziplock bag. These will be far superior to store-bought pre-baked pizza crusts, just as convenient, and a little quicker-baking than using unbaked frozen dough (see above). You can bake them frozen or defrosted (when using frozen crusts it will take a few more minutes to complete the baking).
- To freeze a pre-baked pizza: Bake a pizza as usual, and allow it to cool completely. Freeze in a heavy-duty freezer bag, preferably zip-lock. When ready to use, remove from bag, and place on a preheated baking stone for about 10 minutes (watch carefully to prevent scorching and consider lower baking temperature if you’re finding the pizza dry). While this method won’t be quite as impressive as the other methods on this list, it’s clearly the fastest.
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I am so excited to hear about the new book! I like to keep it simple with a margherita pizza like your recipe but sometimes I will indulge and make a ziti pizza–a baked ziti on top of pizza dough! Carbs upon carbs.
I am so excited about the new book! I pre-ordered it from Amazon and it shipped this morning, and I should have it tomorrow!
Although my motto is “I never met a pizza I didn’t like,” one of my favorites is a traditional dough rolled out thin, a brush of olive oil, some garlic and Italian herbs sprinkled on, shredded mozzarella, then some cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced fresh tomatoes, and some green olives. Yum!
I am hoping to make it to one of your Twin Cities book signings! Congratulations on the new book!
I just made pizza with the olive oil dough this weekend. This dough works well for any type of pizza, but my favorite is Chicago-style deep dish.
OMGoodness what an incredible giveaway. Firts congratulations on this wonderful pizza book. When my son and his 3 British (exchange students) friends, from college, are here for Thanksgiving, I am planning on lunch make your own pizza party for them & some scrabble. Poor fellows, have no clue what I have in store for them.:)
We have two favorite pizzas. The first is Pizza Margherita. We’ve even eaten at the restaurant in Naples, Italy, where this pizza originated!! Our second favorite pizza is Nutella pizza. Obviously, one is for dinner and the other one is for dessert…who could ask for anything more?!?!
It’s hard to beat a margherita pizza with good quality, fresh ingredients.
Our family loves a thin crust pizza with only cheese…Yum!!
By the way, have you tried mixing dough with a potato masher yet? It’s solid, making it easy to mix even a thick dough, and now I have one less unitasker in my kitchen. 🙂
Andrew, re: the potato masher: Now that’s an idea, gotta try that…
Margherita, definitely. Although I do add more cheese whenever I have the chance.
Grilled chicken, sun dried tomato pesto, olives, roasted garlic and feta cheese. Sooo good! Congrats on the new book!
Wow that looks amazing! I love pizza and so many combinations! Would love to win!!!!
I love artisan cheese pizza with sausage on a cracker thin crust. Can’t wait for the book should come today.
We love making pizza on the grill. It’s hard to choose a favorite… Probably anything we can find fresh from the garden or market. Once in awhile I do love making a Buffalo chicken pizza with crumbled bleu cheese.
We like to put out a selection of toppings and let people make their own individual pizzas.
I love Margherita pizza, but I think my favorite is chicken, feta and pineapple. There is something addictive about warm pineapple. I just can’t get enough (no matter what form)!
Our favorite pizza is any we make at home with your dough! No reason to buy pizza when it is so fun and easy to make as a family.
My husband and I like to put everything on our pizzas: Canadian bacon, ground beef, mushrooms, onions, peppers, black and green olives, and lots of cheese. I generally make the pizza right on a large sheet of parchment paper, so I can slide it all on to the baking stone in the oven!
I make a pizza using your Algerian flatbread from “Healthy Bread in 5” using guacamole as the pizza sauce, frying a 1/3 of a pound of bacon to crispy, sauteing a small onion in the bacon grease and layering whatever kind of shredded cheese I have on hand on top…..then baking it in my toaster oven till the cheese melts. You can also substitute cooked chicken for the bacon if you have some leftover.
Love thin crust pizza..any kind!! Anxious to try out all the new recipes in the book. Thanks for offering a giveaway!
My favorite pizza is barbecued chicken, pineapple and bacon crumbles! The sweet and savory together are delicious. I’m outnumbered by boys in my family, however, and they prefer traditional pepperoni…
We make most of our pizza at home. Favorite doughs are the olive oil and the broa dough from the 1st book. Love fresh toppings! And over the summer we made a lot of pizza on the grill!
A thin crust chicken alfredo pizza we grilled in our backyard, it kind of got stuck to the grill grates, but we peeled it off and ate it anyway because it was too delicious to let it go to waste.
I fell in love with wood-fired BBQ Pizza at a restaurant in College Station where my husband went to Texas A&M. Also love Margherita Pizza so I’m looking forward to trying this one!
I love almost any pizza! If I had to pick a favorite I’d say pepperoni, olives & peppers. I love BBQ chicken and margherita too though! This recipe looks great, can’t wait to try it.
I love a pizza with a Alfredo sauce topped with basil, oregano, shrimp spinach, tomato and homemade mozzarella. Yummy Would love to win so that I may give it to husband for chritmas
lately I have been grilling a lot of pizzas, one of my favs is a Gorgonzola, chicken, and peach pizza! Yum! Hopefully I win your giveaway and I can try your recipes as well! Keep the recipes coming!
My favorite pizza has thin crust. Lot’s of veggies and a bit of cheese. YUM!
I love Pizza Margherita, and have been making artisan breads, and experimenting with your recipes and with different flours (trying rice and oat flours with AP flour, and whole wheat). I love the simplicity of your breads, and how versatile they are. Used the master recipe with some oat flour mixed in and made English muffins last night for breakfast today. Came out great!
As for my favorite pizza, it sounds like an odd combination, but the flavor is really good. Pineapple with lots of fresh chopped garlic. That is one of my favorite pizzas. Try it sometime.
My favorite pizza is a simple thin crust, topped with some tomato sauce, fresh mozerella, a little bit of feta, spinach, olives and baby corn!!!
I am allergic to tomatoes and Italian spices so I have to make my own pizzas. My favorite to make for me is dough drizzled with olive oil, salted and peppered, rehydrated hamburger, garlic granules, sliced onions, a sprinkle of Romano cheese, crumbled bacon, and mozzarella cheese on top. I bake it till the cheese begins to brown just a bit. I don’t feel so deprived when I can make this yummy pizza.
If I can only make one pizza, I make it without the sauce but serve the sauce on the side for dipping. He gets the best of both worlds: Home made pizza and as much sauce as he likes.
Any pizza from “5 minutes a Day” will surely become a favorite. Everything you do is a favorite!
We love making pizza in 5 minutes a day. My favorite is thin, on the charcoal grill with garden tomatoes, basil, mozz and parmesan. For my 3 teenaged boys – the bigger the better. They like a Chicago style deep dish loaded with sausage, pepperoni and Canadian bacon. (I’ve been using the Broa dough for this one). A few weeks ago we made a pie for “the boys” that weighed 8 lbs!
My favorite pizza to make these days is margherita. I’ve been making it a lot lately on the grill. I love using my HBI5 dough and fresh basil from my garden! Yum!!! I’m looking forward to your new book and to making more pizza in the oven now that the weather’s cooling down. 🙂
My favorite pizza is absolutely Pizza Margherita!!
My husband & I’s favorite pizza is the “Milano”. We used to get it at Eat Pizza in Portland, Or. before we moved back to Chicago. Now we make it ourselves! Thin crust, olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, roasted red peppers and Gorgonzola. Yum! Now I’m really craving it!
We’re big fans of fresh greens, roasted garlic, mushrooms and shrimp on a pie. Looking forward to enjoying the recipes from the new book! Been excitedly awaiting its arrival!
I loved your first two books and look forward to this one!
My favorite pizza (so far) is the Healthy Bread in 5 base recipe, with pesto, fresh mozzarella, and a mix of broccoli and spinach. SO GOOD.
Loved your first book. I’ve made the bread frequently. I’ve also made pizza with it. Looking forward to the new book.
We make homemade pizza every week to kick off the weekend right. Our family favorite is pepperoni with extra cheese! We make your wonderful 5 min bread several times a week and can’t wait to make the pizza! Yum!
Pizza almost every Friday night! Favorite has a white sauce, garlic, lots of different vegies!
Congrats on book #3! I love all pizza, but especially pizza bianca.
I just love your books and am so excited for the pizza book! I love an alfredo pizza with chicken & bacon…I wonder if it’s too late to change my dinner plans?
My favorite pizza is the zucchini flatbread from your book! And lately my kids have fallen in love with a salad-topped pizza we found on epicurious.com. It’s a wonderful way to get them to eat salad without complaint! I make it on your olive oil dough from ABin5.
However, the olive oil seems to be missing from the dough recipe in your blog post above??
I love Margherita pizza. I actually make it at home frequently. I also love King Arthur products.
When I make pizza at home, it’s usually tomato basil. However, if I’m going out to Santarpio’s, I have to get their sausage garlic—it’s incredible.
My favorite pizza is with fresh milk mozzarella, fresh spinach, fresh mushrooms, and fresh, sliced red bell peppers. yumm!!!
I haven’t gotten to look at your new pizza book yet. But we love just about everything on top of a pizza. Lately in our house we have been enjoying Taco Pizza
Can’t wait to meet you when you come to Boston! In the meantime I’ll be cooking up some pizza at home from the new book 🙂
Would love to win. Love Pizza Margherita, but like experimenting, too.
Linda
My favorite is homemade, of course! We have started a tradition of pizza Fridays in our home. Our boys (7 and 4), my husband and I each roll out our own pizza dough (AB5 or HB5, naturally) and make up our own delights. Last week, mine had a bunch of CSA veggies, Laughing Cow cheese and pizza sauce from Trader Joe’s.
Congratulations on the new book, I am so excited at how beautiful it is! It’s been on order with my local book store since this summer, 🙂 I love that you have two sections of photos. As soon as I’m done with breakfast, I will stir up the dough for the Banana Cream Hand Pie.