This is the quintessential word of mouth recipe. Some dear friends brought this pizza to a potluck, and it was so good, I just had to get the recipe. I then made it (with some changes) for a crowd gathered at my place, when we had friends over to help build a fence. Several of them asked for the recipe as well. One of these friends then made it for guests, and was ALSO asked for the recipe.
It’s that good people. If you need a boost of self-confidence, make this the next time you have company. This is an ego-flattering recipe.
And the best part? It’s easy. You’re going to make yourself look like a gourmet cook with the easiest recipe ever. No word of a lie.
If you give this recipe a go, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or snap a photo and tag it with #smartnutritionrecipes on Instagram! I’d love to see your creations! Knowing someone has enjoyed one of my recipes always makes my day brighter.
Top Requested Margherita Pizza
Ingredients
For the pizza crust
- 1 cup warm water about 100 degrees F
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
For the pizza
- 4 medium sized roma tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 300 g 10 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
- handful of basil leaves sliced into ribbons
- parmesan cheese for sprinkling
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Thinly slice the tomatoes and place in a flat-bottomed dish with sides. Add in the garlic, olive oil, and salt. Stir and set aside.
- Place the water, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix and leave for 10 minutes.
- Add the oil, salt, and flour.
- Using the kneading hook, knead for 5 minutes.
- Stretch into two pizzas on a greased and floured (or cornmealed) ceramic pizza stone.
- Bake for 8 minutes.
- Remove from oven and brush the crust with the liquid from the marinating tomatoes.
- Sprinkle the crust with the mozza cheese.
- Place the tomatoes on top in a single layer.
- Sprinkle on the basil and some parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes (until the cheese is bubble and the crust is starting to turn golden)
Notes
- I highly recommend the pizza stone! I made one pizza on a stone and the other on a regular baking sheet. The crust of the pizza on the baking sheet ended up browning and kind of tasting like croutons.
- The recipe yields enough crust to make two thin-crust pizzas. I highly recommend keeping this as a thin crust pizza. But you can make one thicker crust if you must.
This is now the only pizza dough recipe I use. I typically let it rise a little bit cause we like it a bit thicker… But it is delicious and not at all greasy !
Thanks for the feedback! I like how versatile the recipe is. If you need it quick, you can still make a good pizza. But if you have more time, you can get a more risen crust 🙂
I made your Sour Dough Starter. It’s nice and bubbly (yeah), how would you adapt the dough recipe above (or do you have a separate recipe for Pizza Crust) using the sour dough starter?
I’ve been eating gluten free recently (that’s a long story I won’t get into!) so I actually haven’t been eating wheat in a while! But I was close to perfecting a really awesome sourdough pizza crust just before I needed to go gluten free! I can’t remember my recipe adaptation anymore. I’m so sorry! It involved replacing some of the flour and water with the starter….