Classic Pizza Margherita
When you use top quality ingredients, pizzas don't more deliciously simple than a Margherita
10 minutes, plus cooling time prep, 10 minutes cook
Serves Makes 2 x 25 cm pizzas
Ingredients
2 balls of pizza dough
A pinch of fine sea salt
1 tbsp shop-bought garlici nfused olive oil
160ml tomato sauce
1 x 125g ball of fresh mozzarella, cut into sugar-cubes ized pieces
8–10 fresh basil leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 250°C/480°F/gas mark 9 or as high as it will go. Place a pizza stone or an upside-down baking tray in the oven to heat up too.
Get all your ingredients and equipment ready, including taking the dough out of the fridge 1 hour before you’re ready to cook.
Stretch the pizza dough by hand or roll it out as per the instructions on pages 24–25. Sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly over the dough. Brush a little garlic-infused oil onto the dough with a pastry brush for added fl avour, making sure you brush the crust
Using a ladle or big spoon, pour the tomato sauce in the centre of the dough. Spread the sauce over the pizza in concentric circles with the back of the ladle or spoon, leaving a 2.5 cm (1 in) border clear around the edges for the crust. You only want a th
Scatter the fresh mozzarella evenly over the pizza, but don’t put it too close to the crust or it might melt right off the edge of the pizza.
Check that there is no liquid on the peel or board or your pizza won’t slide off it. Shake the board gently to see if the pizza will move.
If it doesn’t, lift up the pizza with a dough cutter or spatula and sprinkle a little fl our on the board until it does move easily.
Slide the pizza off the peel or board onto the pizza stone or upside-down baking tray in the hot oven. Cook for 7–10 minutes, but start checking it after 5 minutes – you want the bottom to be cooked through and golden and the cheese should be melted.
Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack, then scatter over 4-5 fresh basil leaves. Allow to stand for 1 minute before cutting into slices.
Recipe taken from Saturday Pizzas from the Ballymaloe Cookery School by Philip Dennhardt and Kristin Jensen (£16.99, Ryland Peters & Small). Photographer: Mowie Kay
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