Margherita Pizza

Update:  Pizza dough recipe added at the bottom.

This pizza is delicious and incredibly simple.  For best results sing Dean Martin's That's Amore while preparing the food.  I am always too lazy to make my own dough even though it is not hard.  A lot of good grocery stores carry frozen or ready to use pizza dough.  This recipe is reverse engineered from a local Italian restaurant.  Ingredients follow:

Margherita pizza ingredients

  Pizza Dough

Olive Oil

Garlic

Fresh Mozzarella

Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Dried Oregano

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  spread some flour on the pizza pan / baking surface to keep the dough from sticking.  Spread the dough evenly to desired thickness - rolling pin, hand tossed, any method will do.  I like this particular pizza variety thin crusted.  

Amore

Spread olive oil over the dough.  Mince garlic over the olive oil covered dough.  Apply the mozzarella evenly.  Slice a tomato or two and crush and drain excess liquid.  When I forget to do this the result is a soggy pizza.  Place the tomatoes on the pizza.  Sprinkle dried oregano, salt, and pepper over the pizza.  Cut the basil in strips and place the basil on the pizza.  Bake for 12  - 15 minutes until crust begins to brown.

Pizza, spread the ingredients out - a little goes a long way and simpler is better.

Addendum:
 Britt at Chicago Runner Girl was so kind as to provide a recipe for dough.  Here it is:

As promised, here is my pizza dough recipe. It yields 1 pie.

1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

1 t. Salt

3/4 t. Dry Yeast

1 T. Honey

1/2 cup Warm Water

1 T. Olive Oil

In the warm water, add the yeast and honey. Let it sit for a few minutes to activate the yeast.

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and olive oil. I like to put the olive oil in first so that flour chunks do not get caught on the bottom of the bowl. After the yeast has had a few minutes to activate, add the warm water to the flour and combine into a ball.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. In the cooler months the dough may need to rest a few minutes before kneading so that the gluten does not become activated. I like to keep the dough in a ball on the floured surface with the bowl upside down on top of it to create some humidity to allow it to begin to proof for a few minutes before the kneading.

Knead until dough becomes one homogeneous ball. Take the bowl and spray the inside with cooking spray then place the dough inside and cover with either a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Depending on the time of year and humidity, it takes roughly 2-3 hours to proof the dough. After an hour you can punch it down, as well as about another 15 minutes before use. Sometimes it maybe a bit sticky, but don't be afraid to add some extra flour because this dough is really friendly.

Bon Appetite!

Britt