Tomato and basil pizza is an aromatic and tasty recipe to prepare for all special occasions, parties, and evenings with friends, picnics, buffets, appetizers and aperitifs, or to enjoy in your free time and at work. It is a very easy recipe that you can comfortably make at home, without needing to possess special kitchen utensils. We can knead by hand since the dough is very soft and pleasant to work with. The tomato and basil pizza has a thickness of about 1/2 inch, it’s very soft, well-leavened but, above all, very tasty and has nothing to envy to the baker’s tray pizzas. With the leftover pizza dough, we can prepare sweet pizzettes.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4/6 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups All-purpose flour
- 0.07 oz Fresh baker's yeast
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 tsp Fine salt
- 4 tbsps Tomato sauce
- 5 leaves Basil
- to taste Fine salt
- 1 clove Garlic
- to taste Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 circular baking pan of 10/11 inches
Preparation
1) Sift the flour into a stand mixer bowl or a large bowl.
2) Crumble the yeast with your hands and mix it with the flour.
3) Dissolve the salt in the water and pour it into the flour. Knead, without adding more flour, both by hand and with the mixer, until you get a soft, sticky, and well-mixed dough.
4) Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size.
5) When the dough is well risen, gently turn it over into the well-oiled pan and spread it gently with your hands until it covers the entire pan. This is a step that should be done gently and without haste. Cover with a kitchen towel (without detergent odors) and let it rise again.
6) When the pizza is well risen, turn on the oven and set it to the maximum temperature. In the meantime, blend the tomato sauce, or chunks, with basil, garlic, and fine salt.
7) When the oven reaches temperature, put the tomato topping on the pizza, pour it and spread it with the back of the spoon in a circular motion from the center to the outside. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and bake at mid-height for a maximum of 6/9 minutes. The pizza cooks quickly and is ready when the base is golden. Remove it immediately and decorate with fresh basil leaves already washed and dried. Cut the pizza with scissors or poultry shears and serve.
The extra idea. This is the basic version. We can enrich our pizza with other ingredients, such as grated cheese, mozzarella, provola, or oregano, which I recommend adding just before taking our tomato and basil pizza out of the oven.
