Margherita Pizza
By Connor Forbes
Pizza nights are the best. Pizza brings the family together by gathering everyone around the table to pull slices from the same dish. There is something special about that shared food. Very few foods in our western society are as easily shared family style as a pizza.
I am fortunate to have a pizza oven, which makes pizza night a fun night for cooking too. I load up the oven with charcoal and oak wood. Light it on fire. And then dance the dance of getting the temperature and stone to a good temperature, not getting the pizza stuck on the peel, not burning the crust too much and timing it all so I can have a couple pizza done in quick succession. It is about as fun as cooking can be. And a delight when it all comes together, and you hear, “this is the best pizza ever” from your family.
I don’t usually make my own dough or sauce. I have in the past but that takes a lot more forethought than I generally have. So, store bought pizza sauce and dough are an alternative. Trader Joe’s has good options (this is in no way sponsored by Trader Joe’s) but so do other grocery stores.
You also do not have to have a pizza oven to make a god pizza. A conventional oven will do the trick as well.
Let’s Make Margherita Pizza!
Ingredients
- Pizza dough
- Pizza sauce
- Mozzarella, ¼ in slices
- Roma tomatoes, ¼ in slices
- Fresh basil
To Make
Preheat your pizza oven to about 750 degrees. If you are using a conventional oven max out your top heat, usually around 550 degrees. Stretch out the pizza dough into a 10-12” circle. You will want to have flour lightly covering your workspace, hands and dough. If you start sticking to the dough or the dough starts sticking to the work surface add more flour.
If you have a pizza peel I suggest building your pizza on top of it. Lightly flour the peel. Add the stretched out dough. Add sauce all over the dough in an even layer. Then add the sliced mozzarella and tomatoes in a random but evenly dispersed fashion.
If you do not have a pizza peel and are baking in the oven, follow the above direction, but build you pizza on a baking sheet instead.
Place your pizza in the oven. A pizza oven will take 60 – 90 seconds to cook. Spin the pizza about halfway through. A conventional oven will likely take 15-20 minutes, check your pizza at the 10-minute mark.
Pull you pizza out of the oven and slice. Sprinkle basil over the pizza to finish.
For more recipes, visit www.zapinin.com/food.
Margherita Pizza
