Pizza Margarita received the status of a real culinary symbol of her homeland of Italy thanks to a successful combination of colors - snow-white mozzarella, red tomatoes and green basil leaves. It is this combination that makes pizza similar to the Italian flag. However, all over the world Margarita fell in love for her taste. Despite the presence of only a few ingredients and simple toppings, the taste of pizza will not leave anyone indifferent.
Material Content:
Classic Italian Margarita Pizza Recipe
Pizza was invented by Italian cooks at the end of the 18th century for King Umberto I and was so liked by his wife Margarita of Savoy that she was named after this monarch. Despite such a long history of the dish, you can cook it today in any kitchen and, perhaps, anywhere in the world.
Traditional ingredients: composition
The traditional recipe for pizza Margherita involves making yeast dough, stuffing with mozzarella, parmesan, tomatoes and basil. A little more salt, high-quality olive oil and this is where the composition of pizza products ends.
As for cheese, you can certainly replace it with something similar to mozzarella and parmesan, but this is a big departure from the classic recipe. Here the parmesan melts, spreading over the base, and mozzarella gives a delicate creamy taste. Also, in no case do you need to think that dried basil is able to replace fresh. They are completely different tastes and traditional “Margarita” needs fresh, juicy leaves of green fragrant basil.
Pizza dough Margarita
The traditional base is prepared from fine white wheat flour with yeast.The finished dough after baking should be thin and soft, but strong and elastic - Italians fold a piece of pizza in half and bite off it, so the dough should not be easily torn.
Real pizza makers spin the dough overhead, stretching it with your hands and turning it into a thin circle, perfect for pizza. If you do not have such skills, then simply stretch the dough on the table with your hands to the desired diameter. Do not roll it with a rolling pin.
Classic pizza sauce
A classic Italian sauce recipe, which is smeared with a circle of dough, does not imply anything but tomatoes, vegetable oil and spices. Ripe juicy tomatoes are mashed, the skin is removed, and then lightly boiled with the addition of oil. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar to neutralize the acid of tomatoes. When the sauce is respected, and this takes about 15 minutes, it should be cooled, and only then pour on the pizza dough.
A simple oven recipe
To make a simple but incredibly delicious Margarita, take:
- 250 g of the finest flour, which you can only buy;
- 100 ml of warm water;
- 1 teaspoon of fine salt;
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons of quality olive oil;
- 20 g dry baker's yeast;
- 3 pieces of ripe tomatoes;
- 200 g mozzarella;
- 50 g of parmesan;
- Fresh basil leaves.
To start, prepare the dough - dilute the yeast in warm water and when they disperse, add three tablespoons of flour to them. Let the yeast cocktail stand for half an hour, and then pour the oil into it, add the remaining flour and a teaspoon of salt. Knead the dough, which must be allowed to rest for an hour before rolling and baking.
At this time, prepare the sauce - peel the tomatoes and chop the pulp in a blender. Put the tomatoes in a saucepan, add 3 large tablespoons of oil, spices and boil the mixture for 15 minutes. Cool the sauce and then lay it on a rolled dough cake and spread it evenly.
Finely grate Parmesan and cut the mozzarella into pieces. If you took a pickled mozzarella, then you do not need to cut it, just pinch off the pieces and put on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and lay on top of a sprig of basil. Place the base in the oven, preheated to 220 degrees for a maximum of 20 minutes. Watch carefully, it should be baked, but not overdried.
Pizza "Margarita" on thin crust
Cook on a thin crispy dough with sauce, slightly departing from the classic version.
For the test, take:
- 250 g of fine white wheat flour;
- 150 ml of warm water;
- 3.5 g dry yeast;
- 1 teaspoon of sugar;
- half tsp salts;
- 1 tbsp olive oil.
Soak yeast and sugar in water. Combine the flour with salt, sift everything, and then pour out a slide in which make a hole in the form of a volcano. Pour in a yeast cocktail, then butter and a fork begin to knead the dough. When dry ingredients are mixed with liquid, start kneading the dough with your hands. Roll into a ball, grease its surface with oil, put in a bowl and cover with a film. Let the dough go for 40 minutes.
At this time, prepare the sauce, for which take:
- 250 g of tomatoes in their own juice;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- half a teaspoon of spices - oregano, basil, marjoram and salt.
Boil the tomatoes in a pan until the amount of liquid is reduced by half. Add seasonings at the end, and squeeze the garlic. Let the sauce cool.
Prepare the filling from:
- 200 g of mozzarella without salt;
- 2 tomatoes.
Grate the cheese, and cut the tomatoes with washers. Roll the dough thinly into a circle, brush with sauce, sprinkle with cheese, put tomatoes on top and sprinkle some more cheese. Bake for 7 minutes at 230 degrees. Since the dough is thin, he does not need a lot of time to bake.
Cooking on a yeast-free basis
If you do not want to cook yeast dough, then make Margarita on a fresh, yeast-free basis - it is no less tasty, it will turn out to be just as juicy and fragrant.
For the test, take:
- 1.5 cups flour;
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder;
- half a teaspoon of salt;
- 100 ml of water;
- 4 tablespoons of oil.
Sift flour, add baking powder and salt. Pour water and oil into the flour, kneading the dough. For even faster work, you can use a mixer or a food processor that has nozzles for kneading dough. A bread machine can also help in this - you can knead the dough in it, and roll it out with your hands.
The rest of the pizza can be classic - boiled tomato sauce, cheese and basil. Bake pizza on a yeast-free dough for 10 minutes at a temperature of 220 degrees.
How to make pita bread in a pan
To speed up the process, use ready-made frozen dough or even unleavened pita bread. You can cook pizza not in the oven, but in a pan. Of course, this recipe is far from the classic version, but also very tasty.
For pizza take:
- 1 pita;
- 50 g of brine cheese;
- 100 g of tomato paste;
- several basil leaves;
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme;
- salt pepper.
Put the pan on a fire, grease with a small amount of oil. Put tomato paste on pita bread, put slices of cheese, by the way, it’s not necessary to take mozzarella. Suluguni can be used in this recipe. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper, lay out the basil leaves. Put the pita bread in a pan and fry for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
Serve pizza prepared according to any of the recipes immediately after baking, while it is hot and the cheese is viscous and melted. Do not cook it in advance, as it cools down, it will lose half its taste.
