Margherita Pizza - The Queen of Pizzas
Quit literally, named after Queen Margherita. When I was in Italy my favourite version of this was baked with just the tomato sauce and then had mountains of fresh buffalo mozzarella torn on top along with the most basily basil you ever did smell and so much olive oil. So that’s how I TRY to recreate it. Important to note your mozzarella should be at room temperature to let the flavour shine and to not cool down your pizza!
Ingredients
(makes enough for 2 pizzas)
Pizza dough, recipe here
Tomato sauce, recipe here
200g buffalo mozzarella at room temperature, roughly torn
A large bunch of fresh basil leaves
Lots of olive oil
1 Tbsp flour + 1 Tbsp polenta
That’s it!
Make It
Place pizza stone/baking tray in oven and preheat to 250°c or as hot as it will go.
Mix flour and polenta together on a clean bench (alternatively just use flour) and place proved dough ball in the middle. Use tips of fingers to to press the dough out in a clockwise motion, until you get a 1cm thick circle. Using the flat fingers push/stretch the dough out until its so thin that you can almost see through the dough. Transfer to a piece of baking paper to make it easier to move the pizza to the oven.
Spread 3 good tablespoons of tomato sauce onto pizza base.
Bake It
Transfer to baking stone/tray in oven, carefully slide paper away and bake for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through. Switch oven to high grill, remove pizza from oven and drizzle with a little olive oil. Return to oven and grill for 1-2 minutes, until golden and blistery. Watch while grilling to ensure it doesn’t burn.
Remove from oven and transfer to a chopping board. Roughly tear mozzarella and place on pizza along with basil. Cut into wedges, drizzle with more olive oil and probably sprinkle over more salt. The cheese needs salt!