Pizza Margherita

I´ve just joined to Whole kitchen. The savory proposal in september is an italian cuisine classic, pizza.

Pizza Margherita has this name to Queen Margherita, wife of Umberto I. She loved the combination of mozzarella, tomato and basil (white,red and green). Italian flag colors.

Ingredients for 4 medium pizzas:

Pizza dough:

500g of strong white flour

350g of fresh water

10g of yeast

10g of salt

Pizza toppings:

4 ripe tomatoes in slices

2 mozzarella cheeses

Some basil leaves

Some good olive oil

First we have to make the dough. Dissolve the yeast in the water, add the flour and finaly the salt. Knead until it´s robust and flexible. Put the dough in a warm place and wait until it rise. It must double its size. It takes about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven 450º F(330ºC). Divide the dough in 4. Form balls of dough. Take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter.

Place the tomatoes, the cheese and the basil on the dough. Sprinkle with the olive oil.

Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes.