Today we’re eating pan-baked margherita pizza, fragrant on the outside and soft inside, made with my favorite dough and the classic tomato and mozzarella topping. If you’d like to try an alternative to the margherita there’s also the recipe for pan-baked pizza with eggplant and Parmesan.
In any case, her majesty the margherita pizza is always loved by everyone; moreover this dough is simple and quick to prepare. It doesn’t require a long rise—only about 2 hours—to be light, tasty and, above all, soft inside and crisp outside.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Portions: 6 People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 4 3/4 cups flour (1/2 tipo 0 flour and 1/2 tipo 00 flour (about 600 g))
- 1 1/4 cups water ((about 300 ml))
- 1/3 cup olive oil ((about 80 ml))
- 0.9 oz fresh baker's yeast (1 whole fresh yeast cake (about 25 g))
- 2 1/2 tsp sugar ((about 10 g))
- 2 1/3 tsp salt ((about 14 g))
- 1 mozzarella (about 8 oz (225 g))
- 3 1/8 cups tomato passata (1 bottle (750 ml))
- to taste fresh basil (or fresh oregano)
Preparation
1 – In a large bowl put the sifted flour.
2 – Prepare the water and dissolve the crumbled yeast and the sugar in it.
3 – Pour the water over the flour and begin to knead. When you have incorporated all the flour add the oil and finally add the salt. Finish kneading to form a smooth, homogeneous ball.
4 – Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
5 – When the dough has doubled in volume, which will take about 2 hours, take it out and divide it into two portions. Then stretch it onto oiled baking pans up to the edges, pulling it thinly.
6 – Season the tomato passata with salt and oil and pour a generous layer over the pizza. Drizzle the pizza with a little olive oil.
7 – Chop the mozzarella and set it aside.
8 – Preheat the oven to the highest temperature and bake the pizzas for 12 minutes.
9 – With about three minutes left to go, remove the pans, spread the mozzarella over the pizza, add a few fresh basil leaves or oregano, another drizzle of olive oil and return to the oven.
10 – Two or three minutes are all it takes to melt the mozzarella without burning it. The margherita pizza will be ready when you see the edge of the crust golden brown.
