Margherita Pizza

With the recent success in finding a great homemade pizza dough, we thought it was time to start experimenting with toppings. The dough is stored in the freezer and basically, just waiting for us! I wasn't sure how long it would take to thaw, so I put it in the refrigerator one morning. Later that day, it was completely thawed, so I think it you left it out on the counter to thaw, it wouldn't take too long. This time around, we were craving margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella. Though the pizza dough was, at first, a bit resistant to stretching, it eventually conformed to what I wanted it to do and baked up beautifully.




Margherita Pizza

1- 12 inch pizza dough
1/3 cup pizza sauce
2 plum tomatoes, sliced thin
4 to 5 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
handful of fresh basil
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees for 30 minutes with a pizza stone on the lowest rack. Shape pizza dough into a 12 inch circle on a well floured board. If it is resistant to shaping, let it rest for 10 minutes then try again. When the stone is thoroughly preheated, remove it from the oven. Sprinkle the stone generously with cornmeal, then lay the dough on top of the cornmeal. Spread the pizza sauce over the dough, leaving a 1/2 border all the way around the edge. Layer the sliced tomatoes to cover the sauce. Layer the mozzarella over the tomatoes, then sprinkle the pizza with torn basil leaves. Finally, top with the parmesan cheese. Reduce the oven to 425 and bake about 10 minutes.