Homemade margherita pizza

Name: Homemade margherita pizza
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 1.5 tsp salt; 325 ml lukewarm water; 2 tbsp olive oil; 250 g passata; 1 garlic clove; 250 g mozzarella; 1 handful fresh basil leaves

Crisp, blistered base with tomato, mozzarella and basil

Features:Vegetarian Kid friendly

Cuisine:

A simple dough, a no-cook tomato sauce and the hottest oven you can manage. A heavy baking tray preheated in the oven does a good job of standing in for a pizza stone.

Total time: 40 min
Difficulty: medium
Serves: 4

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Ingredients

Serves4

Dough

1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flour
¼ oz fast-action dried yeast1 sachet
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil

Topping

9 oz passata
1 garlic clovecrushed
9 oz mozzarellatorn and patted dry
1 handful fresh basil leaves

Method

0/6 done

Step 1: Mix 1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flour, ¼ oz fast-action dried yeast and 1 ½ tsp salt in a large bowl. Add 1 ¼ cups lukewarm water and 1 tbsp olive oil and bring together into a soft dough. Knead for 8 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
10 min
Step 2: Cover and leave somewhere warm until doubled in size.
60 min
Step 3: Heat the oven to its highest setting with a heavy baking tray inside. Mix 9 oz passata with 1 garlic clove and a pinch of salt.
Step 4: Divide the dough into four and stretch each into a thin round on a floured sheet of baking paper. Spread thinly with sauce and scatter over 9 oz mozzarella.
Step 5: Slide the pizzas, one or two at a time, on their paper onto the hot tray and bake until the base is crisp and the cheese is bubbling.
8 min
Step 6: Finish with 1 handful fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of the rest of the 1 tbsp olive oil.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 680 kcal
Protein: 28 g
Carbs: 98 g
Fat: 19 g
Fibre: 5 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

Recipe by

Badal Patel

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does homemade margherita pizza take?: About 40 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?: 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegetarian?: Yes. It has no meat or fish.
What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?: Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?: Fresh yeast, three times the weight.