Margherita Pizza
Ingredients
- olive oil cooking spray
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 16 fresh basil leaves, or to taste
Directions
- Prepare a large bowl with cooking spray.
- Stir lukewarm water and yeast together in a bowl; let stand for 5 minutes.
- Mix the yeast mixture with the flour, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook until it comes together in a sticky ball.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough with your hands for about 5 minutes; form into a ball and transfer to the prepared bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel.
- Set dough in a warm spot in your kitchen to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease 2 9-inch pizza pans with 1 tablespoon olive oil each.
- Divide dough into two halves and roll into balls.
- Spread each dough portion onto the prepared pans, pushing to the edges with your fingers.
- Divide mozzarella cheese over each portion, spreading evenly to cover, but leaving a border around the edges.
- Arrange tomatoes over the cheese.
- Drizzle remaining olive oil over the pizzas; season with salt and pepper.
- Bake pizzas in preheated oven until crust is golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, .
- Garnish pizzas with fresh basil and slice to serve.
Mealthy tip:
You can always purchase pizza dough at your local market or make it ahead of time and freeze it to save time in the kitchen. If you are using a sheet tray, do not divide the dough into halves. Just spread the dough into a rectangular shape.
Reviews
What others are saying
Sam Dalton says:
These pizzas were so good! We made them for my daughter's birthday, using mini personal pan dishes. Everybody loved them!
Greg Jones says:
Very good margherita pizza. The dough was really easy to make and cooked well. The fresh basil leaves was a nice addition, instead of being cooked with the pizza. Easy, simple ingredients, and delicious.