Recipe Review from 7/19/10

Pizza Margherita (Ckng Lght, May 2010) 4.0
We've been emulating Joe at Culinary in the Country and trying to do a new pizza each week. While not as punctual as Joe (travel and family obligations superceed some weeks), we do manage to fit in a new pizza every couple of weeks or so. I also highly recommend Joe's Whole Wheat pizza dough. Very tasty.

The crust we've been migrating to this summer has been from Michael Rhulman's Ratio cookbook. He takes a basic ratio of flour, water, salt, yeast and changes the percentages to make certain breads. The recipe below will also work just fine.

For this one we decided to use Rhulman's ratio, but to make it ahead of time so dinner would be more relaxed. I think it actually worked out better as the dough wasn't quite so springy to work with.

For this pizza crust, I also recommend spritzing the edges with olive oil and sprinkling at bit of sea salt on it while it bakes. I found myself dipping the crusts in olive oil and pepper it was so tasty!

I also linked to the Basic Pizza Sauce here and below. In my opinion, this is a super simple, extremely tasty pizza sauce. You can make it as saucy or as chunky as you like, it's just a bit on the sweet side which is a nice counter point to any meat you may end up using.

So while making pizza seems really complicated - if you make the sauce and crust ahead of time (the sauce does freeze very nicely) pulling together a pizza night is a snap. Don't want to heat up the house in the summer? Fire up the grill! Grilled pizza is excellent.

(Photo from Cookinglight.com)

Pizza Margherita
Because this classic Neapolitan-style pizza is so simple, it depends on quality ingredients: Use the best fresh mozzarella and basil you can find.

Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 2 wedges)

Ingredients
1 cup warm water (100° to 110°), divided
10 ounce bread flour (about 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup Basic Pizza Sauce
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup small fresh basil leaves

Preparation
1. SEE NOTE ABOVE Pour 3/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and spoons; level with a knife. Add flour to 3/4 cup water; mix until combined. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water and yeast in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add yeast mixture, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to flour mixture; mix 5 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 24 hours.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Press dough out to a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured baking sheet, without raised sides, sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges to form a 1/2-inch border. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.

3. Position an oven rack in the lowest setting. Place a pizza stone on lowest rack. Preheat oven to 550°. Preheat the pizza stone for 30 minutes before baking dough.

4. Remove plastic wrap from dough. Sprinkle dough with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Spread Basic Pizza Sauce evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Arrange cheese slices evenly over pizza. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone, using a spatula as a guide. Bake at 550° for 11 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cut pizza into 10 wedges, and sprinkle evenly with basil.