MARGHERITA PIZZA

Margherita Pizza
Sara loves a good Margherita Pizza. It's simple, bursting with flavor, and if done right, just makes you feel good. One of my favorite memories is sitting in the train station in Kyoto, eating a Margherita pizza (Japan has the best Margherita pizzas outside of Italy) and watching the people scurry to a fro on a crisp Autumn evening. There are two dough recipes here. Both require 00 flour. The first one is from the New York Time's cooking website and the second from the King Arthur flour bag. Neither will lead you astray!
Ingredients
  • 153 grams 00 flour (1 cup plus 1 TBSP
  • 153 grams of all-purpose flour (1 cup plus 1 TBSP and 2 tsp)
  • 8 grams fine sea salt (1 tsp)
  • 2 grams active dry yeast (3/4 tsp)
  • 4 grams extra-virgin olive oil (1 tsp)
  • 200 grams (not quite 1 cup) lukewarm water
Directions
  1. Measure out your flour using a kitchen scale (I often double this recipe because more pizza is always better).
  2. Mix your flours and salt in a large mixing bowl or put it in your kitchen aid mixer bowl.
  3. In a small mixing bowl (or in a kitchen aid with a dough hook), stir together the water, yeast and the olive oil, then pour it into the flour mixture (or pour the flour into the kitchen aid).
    1. This is where I deviate sometimes.  Often, I will mix in about 2/3 of hte flour so it is a nice paste, then mix in the rest.  If you put all the flour in at once, if just overwhelms everything.  That's my 2 cents.
  4. Knead with your hands (or let the kitchen aid dough hook do the work) until well combined (about 3 minutes)
  5. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes
  6. Knead the rested dough for 3 minutes. 
  7. Cut into 2 equal pieces (or 4 if doubled) and shape each into a ball. 
  8. Place on a floured surface, cover with a dampened cloth, and let it rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature
    1. You can also let it rest and rise in the fridge for 8 to 24 hours
  9. Once ready to get your pizza on, use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds. 
  10. If making Margherita pizza, place on your sauce and your buffalo mozzarella cheese
  11. Bake it in a hot over (at least 500 degree) for 5-7 minutes or until it reaches its desired level of crispy goodness and the mozzarella is nice and melty. 
    1. This is where having a pizza oven really makes the magic happen. Hotter is better.  If you could place the pizza on the surface of the sun, it would be instantly perfect. Having a pizza oven, and a pizza stone really makes this work out well. 
  12. Add your three leaves of Basil and enjoy it while it's warm!
Ingredients
  • 2 cups (232 g) 00 Pizza Flour
  • 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp (8g) fine sea salt
  • 3/4 cup (170 g) lukewarm water
Directions
  1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Add the water
  3. Stir until just combined, a rough cohesive dough.
  4. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 12 to 24 hours!
    1. If you just now realized how long this takes, well, it looks like it's cold cereal for dinner again kids!
  5. On a well floured surface, take your dough, divide it in half, and stretch and fold it. Keep your hands floured as you work. Then fold form it into a little ball. 
  6. Do this with the other half and then let them rest, covered for another 45 minutes.
    1. At this point you're probably regretting making pizza dough. I don't blame you, you really have to plan ahead for this stuff.
  7. Turn your oven on to 500 to 550 (if your oven goes that high) with a baking stone inside.
  8. Preheat for at least 30 minutes so the baking stone has time to be hot.
  9. Push the center of your dough ball flat with your fingertips leaving the outside of the crust untouched!  There is no using a rolling pin here. 
  10. Take your dough and hold it in your hands with your knuckles and slowly stretch it out into a 12 inch disk. 
  11. Place it on your parchment paper (unless you have a peel, which means you probably have a pizza oven, which means you don't need this recipe because you're a tool) add your sauce, your cheese, and bake if for 6 to 7 minutes. Add your three basil leaves, and enjoy warm!