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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My family loves pizza! We like to have pizza parties where I have a variety of ingredients available and everyone makes their own. We’ve had some very yummy original creations this way! Favorite? Roasted tomato, garlic, and onion with sausage, fresh basil, and homemade mozzarella.
I absolutely love pizza-its my favorite food=
loves lots of cheese and pepperoni
thanks
Yum! My favorite pizza is actually the margharita – so I’ll definitely be tryin this recipe! Thanks!!
My favorite pizza is Margherita pizza! If I am feeling especially spicy I will have Buffalo pizza. YUM!
My favorite pizza is the Mediterranean Pizza at the Grand Lake Taphouse. The sauce is pesto, and it has artichoke hearts, red pepper, mushrooms, onions and feta and mozzarella cheeses.
We make breakfast pizza about once a month, my husband takes the left overs for breakfast at work. His favorite is the classic Canadian bacon and pinapple. I like a white sauce with lots of veggies.
My favorite pizza is simple: fresh garden tomatoes marinated in olive oil and garlic, basil and fresh mozzarella. But I also love garlic and kale, mushroom with cream sauce… oh, I could go on and on…
My favorite pizza is tomato-basil. Brush dough with olive oil. Layer with slices of fresh tomatoes. Sprinkle with minced garlic (to taste), grating cheese, fresh basil leaves. Top with shredded mozzarella!
Very excited that your book is out! I love an artichoke and mushroom pizza.
I love pineapple on my pizza! And thick crust. Mmmm.
Pineapple!
After looking at these pictures, I can’t think of anything I’d like better than mozza and basil on a pizza. YUM.
My current favorite is a very delicious potato and sausage pizza that I found on the Serious Eats web site: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/11/potato-and-sausage-pizza-recipe.html
I like it old school – greasy NY style with pepperoni and mushroom.
The classic margarita, although tonight we’re making one with homemade ricotta, red onion marmalade and prosciutto!
Eggplant,fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, and Canadian bacon – a concotion I dreamed up when trying to make “my half” of our pizza as low fat as possible while loading up his half with pepperoni and pizza cheese. He has since converted to liking my half as well as he did his, but still wants pepperoni on his side.
My favorite pizza is my husbands, herbed goat cheese, bacon, mushroom and onion. Yum!
My favorite is Muffuletta pizza – roughly chopped olives, garlic, celery, pepperoncini and pearl onions, with Provolone cheese and herbs – yum!
I don’t think I’ve ever had pizza that I didnt like! My favorite is any kind that my husband makes using your basic dough from your first book. We just discovered how amazing it tastes if you paint the edge of the crust with garlic butter before baking! I can’t wait until he gets his hands on your new book, as his pizza will get even better!
We made a shaved asparagus pizza with white sauce this spring that was divine. Can’t wait to check out the recipes in your new book!
My favorite pizza, is made with mircle whip, fresh basil, mozzerella, and lots of garlic.
My favorite pizza was from a place in my home town (long closed, unfortunately). It was a meatball pizza where they used little pieces of meatballs underneath the cheese. It was heaven!
I have recently gotten your Healthy Bread in 5 – that I just love. Can’t wait to see this one. Seriously we LOVE pizza with a nice crisp thin crust and the simplicity of the margherita pie. But we have recently become a fan of both chicken parm pizza and vodka pizza.
My favorite pizza is the round kind!
I’m not sure I’ve ever met a pizza I didn’t like, so I don’t think I can choose a favorite. I make pizza margherita in the summer when we have fresh tomatoes and basil, and other types the rest of the year. They’re all good!
Love all pizza, especially Canadian bacon and pineapple.
Fried onions, ham, pineapple and meat sauce!
In Italy my favorite pizza just happens to be Pizza Margherita! Since buying your books my favorite pizza is made with the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread dough, pureed fresh roma tomatoes, thinly sliced veggies and lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Thanks for offing to share this giveaway with one of us.
I keep going back to BBQ chicken pizza with red onions. Right before I eat it, I top the cooked pizza with ranch dressing. so good! Give it a try.
Love ham and pineapple pizza. Not very traditional, but a favorite at our house.
Our favorite? Traditional pepperoni with sweet peppers. Yum. Just made one the other day. Can’t wait to try your always-on-hand dough. Guess I’ll be buying another fridge bucket so I can keep the pizza dough next to the bread dough! Good think I have that extra fridge in the basement.
How come there is no olive oil in the “Olive Oil Dough”? Is that an oversight?
Sometimes simple is best: a few different cheeses, roasted garlic and some fresh basil. Yum!
I love home made white chicken pizza.
With lots of garlic
Asparagus Pizza followed closely behind by good basic Pizza Margherita. Too bad all my fresh basil is now dried – October in SD will do that.
(let’s try this again – hopefully won’t post 2 comments)
It seemed so long ago when you announced the pizza book – but now it’s here. My how time flies. I really loved the video by WOR. As usual, they put so much in to just a few minutes and I was smiling the whole time. Jeff’s “toast” at the end was great! 🙂 And I just noticed the new header – love it! I need to practice my tossing skillz.
I’m all for simplicity with pizza – sauce with a slight kick, cheese and maybe some pepperoni. The pizza margherita in this post has my mouth watering! Thank you so much for it and the chance to win.
Kelly: Thanks for the kind words. WORcouple are great at getting you to come out with unrehearsed but natural speech– such a pleasure working with them. Jeff
Oh…I’d love the book! I have your Healthy Bread in 5…
I make crust for my pizza out of your Healthy in 5 book and roll it like flat bread – cook in a skillet and make individual pizzas from it – we add EVERYTHING to it and just love it – the crust makes it!
I love pizza! Plain cheese is great. But my favorite is probably chicken and red pepper. Perhaps some basil or roasted garlic if I have it.
We almost always put the same toppings on our homemade pizza – mushrooms, onions, prosciutto and plenty of cheese! I’m definitely going to try the margherita – on the grill I think!
My favorite pizza was the one that I cooked the night the power went out here in the middle of bad storms. Without a way to cook, and unsure when the power would turn on, I made pizza ON the washing machine (with a rolling mat) because there was some light coming through in there. Then we cooked it on the grill by flashlight. We were SO hungry.
It was your basic pepperoni pizza by candlelight, with tornados all around.
I love artichoke hearts and pesto on my pizza.
A good, thin-crust Margherita is wonderful. But for a thicker-crusted homemade pizza I love ground beef and red onions.
Thanks to your recipes, my family now has pizza night once a week. Our usuals are spinach & mushroom, Mexican, Philly cheesesteak, bbq chicken, chicken alfredo, or pepperoni. In the summer, our pizzas are on the grill too! 🙂
I’ve been forced to eat too much pepperoni and sausage thanks to my 3 year old, but left to my own devises I like a pizza with a beet puree, dabbled with goat cheese and some shredded spinach…
I’m fond of classic tomato mozz pizza, but also enjoy Turkish style pide, as well a flamme kuche from Alsace…it’s all relative in pizza!
Our favorite pizza in our house uses fresh cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden and maybe, on occasion, some prosciutto.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
I make homemade pizza all the time with AB in 5min recipes! Our favorite combo topping is homemade red sauce, chicken italian sausage, italian giardinara, spinach, red onion, and fresh grated pecorino romano. DE-LISH!
Actually, Margherita pizza is my favorite. Add a little ricotta and Parmesan and then you have a 3 cheese Margherita pizza. Yummmmmm! I’m going to have make myself some pizza!
i love pesto with bell peppers, red onion, and a lot of veggies
First I would like to say, ‘Thank you’ I greatly appreciate helping me prepare healthier meals for my family!!!
Second, Good luck to everyone!
Last, I love any kind of pizza that is put in front of me!!! I am constantly trying different ways to do a great and unique styled pizza!! With this package it will open up even more ways for me to make healthy meals that my picky eaters will not turn their nose up at!!!
Thank you again and congratulations on your new success!!!