This post is about the well-known “Pizza Margherita”. In 1889 the Neapolitan pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created this pizza to honor the wife of the King of Naples Margherita. This famous pizza reflects the colors of the Italian flag.
Your dough is ready, and you can make pizza. What follows is my working algorithm. Feel free to make your own.
Preparing the oven
I lay out the tiles on the oven rack. The photo shows at what height I place the oven rack with the tiles on it. I preheat the oven to 550 ° F (287° C). With tiles, the oven warms up longer. You will have enough time to prepare everything.
Stretching the dough
I lay out the silicone mat on the kitchen counter. It will be my work surface. I put some olive oil on my work surface to make it easier to work with the dough.
If the dough is straight from the refrigerator, stretch it with your fingers in several steps. Give your dough some time to relax between your stretching rounds. Each time you stretch the dough to the point when the dough starts to “resist” stretching. You need to stop and let the dough rest for a few minutes.
After resting, you can stretch again until the point when your dough resists your manipulations. This way, you will stretch the dough to the desired thickness. Try not to make the dough too thin.
First, I transfer the stretched dough to parchment paper. It is very easy to do. I put a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and adjust the shape by stretching the edges of the dough over the parchment.
Then, I turn the silicone mat upside down. The parchment is on the kitchen counter, and I remove the silicone mat from the dough. This is why I greased the mat with olive oil.
Toppings for the pizza
Next, I take 4 rounded tablespoons of my pizza sauce and carefully spread it over the edges of my future pizza. Then, with the back of this spoon, I spread the sauce over the entire surface of my pizza.
After that, I add my favorite seasonings and some caraway seeds. This is optional. Use your own seasonings or just your favorite pizza sauce.
I play it simple with cheese. I tried many different kinds of cheese, but most of all I like pizza with traditional mozzarella cheese. It is very convenient to use small balls of mozzarella cheese, but I use cheese logs as well.
Baking
I use a sheet of plywood to drop the pizza onto the tiles. I also have a special wooden pizza board with a handle, but it is smaller than my today’s pizza. A sheet of plywood does an excellent job.
It takes about 7-8 minutes to bake this pizza. Watch it closely after the first 7 minutes. At this temperature, everything happens quickly.
My pizza is out of the oven and I garnish it with basil leaves. Many people like putting basil on pizza before baking. It is a matter of preference. I prefer fresh basil.
You can also use other leafy greens to top your pizza. I use spinach, spring mix, and arugula as well.
Here is my photo guide:
