Today Special - Pizza Margherita

 

Pizza Margherita For Home Ovens 

This recipe for an at-home preparation of pizza Margherita is adapted from the YT channel Italia Squisita and is the creation of the pizzaiolo Davide Civitello. Unlike the traditional recipe for pizza Margherita, here, oil and sugar are also added to the dough — sugar to help with browning and oil to make the pizza crispier since it bakes longer than one baked in a wood-fired oven.

Ingredients - 9 servings 

 1 L (4 1/4 cups) water

1,6 - 1,7 kg (13 1/3 - 14 cups) flour with medium protein content

2g (1/2 tsp) brewer's yeast

50g (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) salt

20g (4 tsp) sugar

50 ml (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) extra virgin olive oil

TOMATO SAUCE

800g (28.2 oz) tomatoes, tinned or peeled ones

8g (1 1/2 tsp) salt

a few basil leaves

extra virgin olive oil, as needed

TOPPING (PER PIZZA)

a bit more than 1 tbsp of tomato sauce

70-80g (2.5 - 2.8 oz) mozzarella

basil leaves

a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

DOUGH

Step 1/3

 Mix the yeast with flour, and separately dissolve salt in water. Add a portion of the flour to the water, to create the first mix. Then, knead in the sugar first, and the olive oil second.

Step 2/3

Gradually add the remaining flour, then knead for another 15-20 minutes until you have a smooth and elastic dough. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

Step 3/3

Then, divide the dough into two loaves, and make about 8-9 (10, if you're stretching it), balls of dough. Cover the balls of dough with a large bowl and leave them to rise for 6-8 hours.

TOMATO SAUCE

Step 1/3

To prepare the tomato sauce, use tinned or peeled tomatoes (for instructions on how to peel them, check out our “cooking tips” section).

Step 2/3

Place the tomatoes in a large enough bowl and crush them by hand or pass them through a food mill.

Step 3/3

Salt them, add a few basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and mix.

SHAPING THE DOUGH

Step 1/3

To shape each ball of dough into a pizza, first, lightly flour the palms of your hand as well as the chosen ball of dough — do not roll the dough in flour, as it will burn during baking, and thus mess up the taste of pizza.

Step 2/3

Now, put the palms of your hand side by side and cross the pointing fingers, then lightly press on the center of the ball of dough three times with your fingers positioned like that, flip it, and press on it the same way as previously three times more. By this point, a cornice (border) should be visible. Stretch the disc of dough a bit if necessary, but not too much.

Step 3/3

Lightly sprinkle the baking peel with flour, but not generously, then place the shaped pizza dough on the peel, disturbing it as little as possible in the process. The dough should still be able to move lightly when on the peel.

TOPPING (PER PIZZA)

Step 1/2

Prep the mozzarella; cut it with a knife into thin sticks (for instructions on how to do that check out our “cooking tips” section).

Step 2/2

Add the toppings to the pizza; first, the tomato sauce, spiraling it with a spoon from the center outwards to the border. Then, add the mozzarella, the torn basil leaves, and the extra virgin olive oil, which should be applied in a swirling motion, to make a number six.

BAKING

Step 1/

the pizza onto a baking stone, which should have been preheating in the oven at maximum temperature for at least half an hour — bake the pizza for five to six minutes.

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1/1

Make the remaining 8 pizzas the same way.

credit :tasteatlas.com/

Image credit- Unsplash