Pizza Margarita is a traditional Italian pizza, perhaps the most popular globally. Even the menu of any pizzeria usually begins with it. Its main ingredients are mozzarella cheese, ripe tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves, which give it a unique taste and aroma.
According to legend, the pizza owes its name to Margarita Savoyskaya – the wife of the Italian king Umberto I, who was very fond of this pizza.
To prepare the classic, most delicious Margarita pizza, you need very few ingredients, but they must be exactly the ones indicated in the list. Those. You can, of course, replace the mozzarella with another cheese, but then you will not end up with a Margarita pizza, but just other kinds of pizza. Therefore, strictly follow the recipe and, I hope, the Margarita pizza will not disappoint you.
Ingredients
- pizza dough 270 – 300 g
- tomato sauce 100 – 130 g
- Mozzarella cheese for pizza 150 – 180 g
- tomatoes 1 pc.
- green basil 8-10 leaves
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preparation
- Wash and dry the tomato and basil and cut the tomato into 3-5 mm slices.
- Roll out pizza dough 2-3 mm thick, 32-35 cm in diameter. Roll it out on parchment sprinkled with flour, and bake the pizza on it so the crust does not deform when transferred to a baking sheet.
- In order to get beautiful sides on the pizza, bend the edges 2-3 cm inward and seal them well so that they do not come off during baking. Put tomato sauce on the rolled base. Let it be more, especially if you are using not ketchup or tomato paste, but tomato sauce.
- Spread the sauce evenly over the dough, pour Extra Virgin Olive Oil on top.
- Now bake dough; do this so that the dough turns out to be crispy and well baked.
- Together with the parchment, transfer the dough to a baking sheet. If the parchment is very large, cut it off so that it does not touch the oven walls.
- Preheat the oven to the maximum temperature (250-270 ° C), put the inverted baking sheet with the dough on the lower level, and bake for 5-10 minutes until it is well browned from below.
- While the crust is baking, cut the mozzarella into 5-10 mm thick plates.
- Put cheese and chopped tomatoes on top.
- Tear large leaves of basil in half, or smaller lay them on top of the pizza, put small leaves whole. Again send the pizza to the oven preheated to the maximum temperature for 5-10 minutes. Now put the baking sheet on the upper level. The pizza is ready when the cheese is completely melted and spread over the entire surface of the pizza.
- Serve the pizza right away while it’s hot. Top can be decorated with more fresh basil leaves. Pizza Margarita is ready. Enjoy your meal!
Now let’s discuss the ingredients
If someone is wondering where to get pizza dough, I recommend making it yourself because ready-made, frozen pizza bases, of course, are not the same. With them, you will not bake the most delicious crispy Margarita pizza. You can use any olive oil, but Extra Virgin Olive Oil will enhance its flavor.
Tomato sauce
If you don’t have fresh or canned tomatoes or are too lazy to cook, you can use tomato paste (salt it, add spices) or even ketchup, but I still prefer the tomato sauce. If you use tomato paste or ketchup, they are more concentrated, so reduce the amount; 2-3 tablespoons are enough.
Mozzarella Cheese
We need specifically for pizza. This is not the kind of mozzarella that is sold as white balls in bags in brine; we need a mozzarella that looks like regular cheese. Mozzarella for pizza – a hard type of mozzarella cheese, used for hot dishes.