MAKES ONE 12-INCH PIZZA
Margherita is not a plain cheese pizza but rather a simple pie topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Each flavor works in harmony with the others to make the ultimate pizza experience.
This is a killer version of a classic Margherita: Seventy-Two-Hour Pizza Dough, No-Cook Tomato Sauce, fresh whole-milk mozzarella, and fresh-picked basil. Simple, yes, but a recipe for success.
A Margherita can act as the template for many other pizzas; you can omit the basil (as in the photograph on the facing page) and add sausage, pepperoni, tomatoes—whatever you can dream up!
1 ball Seventy-Two-Hour Pizza Dough or your favorite pizza dough
Flour for dusting
¼ cup No-Cook Tomato Sauce (here)
150 grams (about 5 ounces) fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced or torn by hand
4 to 5 leaves fresh basil
Olive oil
Fine sea salt and pepper
1. Preheat the Baking Steel in your oven (here).
2. Stretch your dough into a 12-inch circle (oblong or oval is also fine). Lightly flour your peel and place the dough on top.
3. Set the oven to Broil.
4. Evenly distribute the tomato sauce across the top of the pizza, leaving about 1 inch around the perimeter for the crust.
5. Place mozzarella evenly atop the sauced surface. Less is more; it will ooze in the oven’s heat. Add half the basil leaves on top.
6. Use a generously floured pizza peel to launch your pizza onto the Baking Steel and bake under the broiler for 2 minutes.
7. After 2 minutes, open the oven and use your pizza peel to give the pizza a 180-degree turn. Turn off the broiler, set the oven to its highest temperature, and continue cooking for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the cheese has attained the desired brownness.
8. Use your pizza peel to remove the pie from the oven. Top with the remaining basil. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Slice and serve.