Does everyone love pizza, right? 😃 If the benchmark is my family, I believe it’s the favorite dish in the world! We are a record-breaking pizza-eating family, four regular consumers of pizza of all types and kinds. We love thick and soft pizza, but also thin and crispy, we love whole pizza and pizza slices and, of course, we love homemade pizza, with a preference for Margherita pizza.
My children never tire of pizza, I could even offer it every day (and sometimes it really happens 😅). Their favorite pizza is the classic Margherita, as I think it is for most children.
But to avoid monotony, instead of sheet pizza sometimes I make smaller pizzas and top them in various ways, each different from the other.
So today I’m leaving you with a little overview of the versions I make most often, the ones my children like the most.
✝✝✝
This recipe is an update. On the tenth anniversary of its publication, today I like the idea of giving new life to a recipe that still remains our favorite dish. Now the kids are no longer kids (ten more years make a big difference!) but, after the Margherita, the potato pizza and the fake sausage one remain two top-pizzas in our house. 😊 And I continue to make them even with doughs leavened with licoli, now that I use yeast less often than ten years ago.
Happy pizza to everyone!
✝✝✝
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
The pizzas I photographed for this recipe are all made with yeast-leavened dough, which was the basic dough in my house for many years until I started using sourdough.
For the basic dough, I refer you to the detailed recipe. Below I leave you the ingredients for the same recipe made with Manitoba flour, which works very well with long leavening times.
- 4 cups g Manitoba flour (type 0)
- 1.5 cups g water
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (but can also be of seeds)
- Half cube fresh yeast
- tomato sauce
- fresh tomatoes
- mozzarella
- scamorza
- smoked scamorza
- stracchino
- potatoes
- oregano
- rosemary
- extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- Bowl leavening
- Oven Sfornatutto
Steps
For the preparation of the dough (leavened with yeast), I refer you to the base recipe instructions (here), where I also explain how to facilitate leavening with the microwave.
In any case, the rules for obtaining a nice dough are just two:
1) knead vigorously (if kneading by hand, otherwise with the mixer at speed 2) for at least 10 minutes
2) let rise until doubled (with yeast it takes about 3 hours) in a draft-free environment (inside the microwave is the best place for me).
To prepare the classic Margherita pizza is it necessary to list the ingredients, right? Perhaps it’s trivial to say that you need mozzarella, tomato sauce, oil, and basil (or oregano)… I’m sure you already know that! 😃
For the procedure:
Roll out the dough with your hands or with a rolling pin into the desired shapes and sizes.
Sprinkle the dough with tomato sauce (I usually use coarse sauce) and place it in the lower part of the oven at about 425°F.
After 10 minutes, take it out of the oven and top with mozzarella and a drizzle of oil.
Put it back in the oven (in the upper part of the oven) until the mozzarella is lightly golden (about another 10 minutes).
-
Pizza with Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella
In summer, one cannot resist using fresh tomatoes (alone or together with a little tomato sauce). In this case, I like to add the mozzarella after the pizza is cooked.
This is a very summery version of the Margherita.
Two Cheese Pizza (Mozzarella and Scamorza)
In our opinion, scamorza is well-suited to pizza. It’s a bit more flavorful than mozzarella, and together they create a perfect blend.
Pizza with Fake Sausages (that is, Smoked Scamorza)
This variant is our invention (or we like to believe it is! 😃) and we named it so because the first time I tried it, my son Fabrizio, then six years old, mistook the smoky aroma for the smell of sausages, and thus the pizza with fake sausages went down in our family history. 🥳
For the topping, proceed as for the two cheese pizza, replacing the sweet scamorza with the smoked one.
I’m showing you a single photo representing these two versions because there are no obvious differences in appearance; the differences are noticeable in the aroma and taste.
Pizza with Potatoes and Mozzarella (or Stracchino)
Anyone who appreciates pizza without tomato (like my children) cannot help but favor the potato variant.
Naturally, a brief preliminary preparation is required, that is, cooking the potatoes. I usually cook them in the microwave, but even leftover potatoes (boiled or baked) are fine.
I sprinkle the dough with pieces of potato, sometimes I mash them a bit with a fork, and I bake in the lower part of the oven. When the bottom of the dough becomes pinkish, I take it out of the oven and add diced mozzarella (or some stracchino) and rosemary (or oregano).
Put it back in the oven (in the upper part of the oven) until the mozzarella is lightly golden.
Pizza with Potatoes and Fake Sausages (that is, Smoked Scamorza)
To please the kids, we couldn’t miss a second version of fake sausages, that is, with the addition of smoked scamorza (with or without mozzarella or stracchino).
Try all these toppings! I assure you that your pizza night will be very tasty. 😉😋
Happy pizza to everyone!
Salt-Free Tips
Remember that cheeses are among the saltiest foods, so there’s no need to add more salt to the pizza!
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Gradually decrease salt, the palate needs to adapt slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
■ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
■ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
■ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
■ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
■ Use my salt-free vegetable granulate and gomasio.
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Occasionally allow a break from the rule. It’s good for morale and helps to persevere.
If you do not want or cannot give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
Follow Me!
In my new WhatsApp channel and on Instagram, on the Facebook page and Pinterest, in my two groups: Catia’s group, in the kitchen and beyond and Exactly what I was looking for! and if you like… subscribe to my Newsletter.
In my new WhatsApp channel and on Instagram, on the Facebook page and Pinterest, in my two groups: Catia’s group, in the kitchen and beyond and Exactly what I was looking for! and if you like… subscribe to my Newsletter.
