Pizza Margherita

Categories: pizza oven

Ingredients

• FOR THE PIZZA:
• 6 ounces (180g) white bread flour or all-purpose flour or a combination
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 4 ounces cool water (room temperature)
• FOR THE MARGHERITA TOPPING:
• 4 to 6 ounces fresh, whole-milk mozzarella
• 1 or 2 large, fresh tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 6 to 8 fresh basil leaves

Directions

1. Put the flour, the salt and the dry yeast into a bowl and stir in the water, a little at a time, mixing until the resulting dough forms a rough ball. Put it on a lightly floured bread board or counter top and knead it vigorously for 5 minutes or more until it’s smooth. You want this to be a fairly “wet” dough, so if you prefer you can use a mixer, but for a pizza this small it’s easy enough to work by hand.

2. Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough in it to rise. Cover with a dish towel or piece of plastic wrap. Let it rise in a cool place until it’s a full 2 1/2 times its original size, perhaps 3 hours.

3. If you have a pizza stone – and I recommend one for both pizza and bread – put it in your oven on a lower shelf and crank up the heat as high as it will go. On our gas oven that’s a notch above 550F (close to 300C). Give it plenty of time, at least a half-hour, to preheat thoroughly.

4. Form the pizza. Contrary to old-fashioned bread-making advice, do not punch down the risen dough. Simply turn the bowl over and let the dough fall out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle it with a little flour, pick it up, and let it stretch out naturally as you handle it. Drape it over the backs of your hands and gently pull and stretch it into a large circle. Don’t press or handle the dough any more than necessary. It’s not necessary to obsess about this, but the more you can avoid “de-gassing” it, the better bread it will be.

5. Put a sheet of parchment paper on a bread board or pizza “peel.” Gently place the pizza round on the paper, nudging it into a rough circle. Geometrical perfection is not important, and don’t worry about crimping up the edges. Remember, the less handling, the better.

6. Put on your toppings. Slice the mozzarella into rounds and put them down first, then slices of fresh, juicy tomato, and drizzle on a little olive oil. Don’t overload this delicate pizza with toppings.

7. Slide the parchment paper with the pizza on to the stone (or use a pizza pan or cookie sheet if you don’t have a stone). After about three minutes, gently lift an edge of the partially cooked pizza (take care, it’s hot in there) and pull out the paper, leaving the pie directly on the stone to finish. Check again after a couple of minutes and turn the pie if it seems to be browning faster on one side. Bake until the edges are puffy and dark golden-brown – timing will vary depending on oven temperature, edge thickness and toppings, but at this high heat it shouldn’t need more than 6 to 8 minutes. Carefully remove it from the oven, garnish with the basil leaves, serve while it’s sizzling.

8. MATCHING WINE: It’s hard to go wrong with a cold beer with pizza, but the stereotypical wine match, Chianti, makes a fine companion too, as will just about any fruity, high-acid red.

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