Margherita Pizza

My sister-in-law Sarah introduced this recipe, and when I saw it, I HAD to try it!

It was super TASTY and SUPER easy considering you are making a dough!

My sister-in-law Katie introduced me to the easiest and tastiest pizza dough recipe, so that is the dough recipe I used. Let’s just say, if you try out this pizza, you won’t be disappointed!

 

MARGHERITA PIZZA:

Dough:

2 cups warm water
1 T. yeast
1 T. salt
5 cups flour, divided
2 T. olive oil (or shortening)

1. Mix warm water and yeast, let sit 5 minutes.
2. Add 2 ½ cups flour and mix well in Kitchen Aid or with a dough hook.
3. Add additional 2 ½ cups flour and salt, knead. Let dough rest in a ball for 10 to 20 minutes.
4. Pour 2 Tbsp. olive oil onto pan
5. Roll dough very thin and place greased pan
6. Preheat oven to 400 F

Now comes the fun part!  Topping your pizza!
olive oil for brushing
4 cloves sliced garlic
2 large ripe tomatoes, or similar quantity of small ones, or cherry tomatoes (whatever you have on hand, can purchase at the grocery store, or can pick out of your garden)
3/4 c. grated mozzarella (I added a little bit more mozzarella because I LOVE cheese!)
1/4 c. grated Parmesanabout
15 large fresh basil leaves

(IMPORTANT NOTE: this dough recipe is good for TWO pizzas, so if you want two Margherita pizzas, just double the amount of Margherita topping ingredients, OR you could top that second pizza with your choice of traditional pizza toppings.)

7. Slice the tomatoes as thinly as possible. Use a serrated knife to make the task easier. The more thinly you can slice them, the less soggy your pizza will get after baking. Set them aside for now.
8. Mix the mozzarella and parmesan together. Set them aside for now.
9. Thinly slice the garlic cloves and set them aside. Wash the fresh basil to remove any traces of dirt, then lay them out on paper towels to dry. These will only go on the pizza AFTER baking, or else they will dry out and lose all their flavor in the oven. By putting the basil on the pizza after cooking, they will slowly release they flavor as they warm with the residual heat of the freshly-baked pizza.  Now you are ready to garnish your pizza!
10.  Brush the top of the rolled-out dough. This is important, as it creates a barrier between the dough and the juicy tomatoes, which prevents the dough from getting soggy. Sprinkle the garlic slices over the oiled dough. Place the tomato slices/halves/pieces over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch space on the edge for holding the crust, and overlapping the slices where necessary. Sprinkle the mixture of cheeses over the top of the tomatoes. (If you are using dry basil, this is where you would sprinkle it to taste, over the cheese.) That’s it – your pizza is topped!
Bake pizza at 400 F for 15-18 minutes!
Enjoy!

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #chefintraining and/or #chefintrainingblog. I would love to see how these recipes take shape in your kitchens.

Filed under: bread, dinner, italian, main-dish, pizza, topping

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Comments

  1. Nancy

    This pizza looks yummy. I am your newest follower. Thanks for becoming a follower on mine.

  2. viv{re}

    This is my hubby's fave pizza and that's more than reason enough for me to try it!

  3. Jessica @ O. Alouette

    This looks so good I can almost taste it! Yum!

  4. Just Jaime

    Yum!

  5. Mimi

    Oh - I adore Margherita pizza but never tried to make my own! Can't wait to try this as well as several of your recipes!

  6. Kate @ craftwhatever

    Thanks for following my blog and inviting me over... I LOVE your ideas here! I am now a follower. And we make pizza every Friday (which sounds good until you have pizza e.v.e.r.y Friday). I am excited to try something new! Thanks!

  7. Frugal in WV

    Love making home-made pizza! My two boys even help when I make it, thanks for the recipe!

  8. Chels

    This looks so beautiful Nikki! This is one of my favorite kinds of pizza and I will be trying this recipe out for sure :)

    I'm following you now too :)

  9. Michelle

    Mmmm yum! Ok, trying for the 8 kajillionth time to leave a comment. I finally got smart - using Chrome instead of IE :)

    LOVE margherita pizza, and what a great idea! Yum, I need to make this soon.

    FYI on the tomatoes, leave them on a paper towel to drain for a half hour - or a cookie rack. You can do the same for cukes you want to dry out. Adding a sprinkle of salt also makes a huge difference in pulling out the moisture :)

  10. Bella@Bellabeforeandafter.blogspot.com

    Hey Nikki, your pizza looks DELICIOUS!!! Your pizza dough recipe is basically exactly how I make mine, except I don't actually measure anything, lol, but it sounds about right.

    Your blog is super cute, and my gosh so are you, and your daughter.... LOVE that you are cooking up a storm. Eating real home cooked meals is the best, I'm sure your family is super happy!!!

    Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, AND following along, I really appreciate it!!

    I can't resist following you too girl... you have too much good stuff going on here, and I love cooking. Hopefully we'll see alot more of each other. I'd also LOVE if you shared your recipes at my weekly party. I LOVE featuring great food!!!

    Hugs, Bella :)**AMAZE ME AUGUST** @ Bella Before and After

  11. The Souper

    Hi Nikki,

    I have never made pizza from scratch. Your recipe is inspiring.

    The Souper

  12. Amanda

    Just bookmarked this...just today realized I needed to use my exploding basil plant!

  13. Mindy

    This is BY FAR my favorite kind of pizza. YUM!

  14. Maggie

    yum this looks amazing!! I am growing a basil plant and this looks like the perfect recipe for it :)

  15. Red, Blonde and Burlap

    This looks delish! Can't wait to give it a try, I've been looking for a good pizza recipe!

  16. Christina

    Your pizza looks amazing!I just made margarita pizza over the weekend. So good!

  17. Frances

    Thanks for sharing! I love margherita pizza! I'm following from the blessed with grace bloghop...hope you follow back :)

  18. ladybehindthecurtain.com

    This looks amazing! I would love it if you came by and shared some of your recipes with us at Cast Party Wednesday tomorrow.Thanks,I hope to see you there!

  19. Carly

    Oh man! This looks REALLY good! I just made a pizza last night but I used a pre-made wheat crust from the store... just because I didn't want to try, myself, and mess up a crust recipe. Man, I should have waited a day until I read this and I would have been golden with this!The pizza looks delicious and I *love* Margherita pizza!-Carlywww.createliveblog.com

  20. Crystal

    I love margherita pizza, but never knew exactly how to make it from scratch! Yum! I would love for you to share a link to this post on my mommy solution meme!http://www.crystalandcomp.com/2011/07/the-mommy-club-share-your-resources-and-solutions/

  21. Lisa

    YUM! We made a really similar recipe on Monday and it was SO good! I ate the leftovers the past 2 days for dinner : )

    1. Trina Ord

      Nikki, I wanted a pizza crust recipe to make tonight so your blog was the first place I looked. I followed this recipe (or tried) but have a couple of questions. The "T"s is that for teaspoon as in one teaspoon of yeast and one teaspoon of salt and 2 tsp of olive oil? I used one tsp of salt and one of yeast as a tbsp seemed like too much. I followed the recipe exactly (except I did not measure the olive oil :) but my crust did not rise satisfactorily. I am wondering if this is because the recipe did not call for any sugar for the yeast. Should there be some??? I used fleshmans rapid rise yeast. Thanks :) ~ Trina

  22. julie kemp

    Love your recipes but you don't have PRINT on all of them so I van print the recipe only. ie: pizza dough has PRINT and toppings recipe does not.