My favorite homemade pizza is the simple, yet flavorful Margarita Pizza. It has three simple toppings: fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. The crust is easy to make and I highly recommend that you get a pizza stone for baking and a pizza peel so that you can easily slide your creation into and out of the oven. Once you see how easy the pizza dough is to prepare, you can use it for any toppings you like…even plan a pizza party with lots of toppings and let your guests make their own!
Margarita Pizza
Ingredients
1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
1 tbl All Purpose Flour
1 tbl Granulated Sugar
1/2 cu Warm Water (about 110 degrees F)
1 1/4 cu All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbl Olive Oil
Additional flour and olive oil for kneading rising
1 tbl Corn Meal
8 oz Fresh Mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 lg or 2 medium tomatoes sliced
8-10 fresh Basil Leaves
Additional Equipment
Pizza Stone
Pizza Peel
Method
Place yeast, 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a medium sized bowl. Whisk in warm water until fully blended. Set aside for 10 minutes for yeast to activate. The mixture should be a bit bubbly and “spongy”.
Place 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour in a large bowl. Add salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and yeast mixture to the bowl. Stir to combine and continue to work mixture until a dough forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured bowl and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Pour about 1 teaspoon of olive oil in your mixing bowl. Turn the tough in the bowl to fully coat on all sides. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 1 1 /2 hours until doubled in bulk.
Preheat pizza stone in your oven at 500 degrees F. Roll out dough to about a 12″-13″ circle. Transfer dough to a pizza peel that has been dusted with about 1 tablespoon of corn meal. Arrange mozzarella on top of dough. Cover with tomato slices. Top tomato slices with half of the basil leaves. Transfer pizza to pizza stone and bake for about 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven. Roll remaining basil leaves together and thinly slice them (chiffonade). Arrange on top of pizza. Slice and enjoy!