Margherita Pizza
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
- 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 5 1/2 cups "00" pizza flour, such as Caputo
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- Two 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes, packed in puree
- Kosher salt
- Fine semolina, for dusting
- 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
- 16 fresh basil leaves
- Olive oil
- Special equipment: Pizza stone and pizza peel
- For the dough: Combine the sugar, oil, yeast and 2 cups cold water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- Let the mixture sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
- With the motor running, slowly add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture.
- Keep mixing until a smooth, elastic dough forms, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into four 12-ounce pieces and shape into balls.
- Transfer the balls to a lightly greased 9-by-13-inch baking dish and brush with oil.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
- For the sauce: Remove each tomato from the can and reserve 3 cups of the puree.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and, using your fingers, remove and discard the seeds (don't rinse).
- Place the tomatoes in a food processor and pulse until just crushed but not pureed.
- (Alternatively, crush the tomatoes by hand or pass them through a food mill.)
- Transfer the tomato sauce to a bowl and stir in the reserved 3 cups of puree and some salt.
- For the pizza: Place a pizza stone under the oven broiler.
- Preheat the broiler for 30 minutes.
- Working in four batches, dust a ball of dough heavily with semolina.
- Using your fingertips, press the dough from the center out, into a 10-inch circle, about 1/4-inch thick, leaving a 1-inch thick crust around the edges.
- Hold the dough straight up, and with your fingertips circling the crust, let the dough naturally fall.
- Slide your fingers around crust in a circular motion (like you would turn a steering wheel) until the dough in the center is stretched to about 1/8-inch thick.
- Repeat for the remaining dough balls.
- Transfer the dough to a semolina-dusted pizza peel.
- Spread each pizza with about 1/2 cup sauce evenly over center of the dough, distribute a quarter each of the cheese and basil leaves, and drizzle with oil.
- Slide a pizza onto the stone and broil until the cheese melts and the crust is puffed and charred in spots, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Repeat for the remaining pizzas.
- Serve hot.
- Enjoy!
sugar, extravirgin olive oil, active dry yeast, flour, kosher salt, tomatoes, kosher salt, semolina, mozzarella, basil, olive oil
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/margherita-pizza.html (may not work)