Authentic Margherita Pizza

The key to an Authentic Margherita Pizza is all in the ingredients and ratios. We use a homemade pizza dough, topped with crushed tomatoes, kosher salt, fresh mozzarella, and a generous dose of fresh basil.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 11

Total Time 21

Servings serving

Calories 693kcal

Author Whitney Wright

Equipment

Ingredients

6-8 oz pizza dough I always use my homemade pizza dough recipe for this!
1/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes amount needed will vary. I use a small amount, but you may want more
pinch kosher salt I love kosher salt for this! (the crystals are bigger than table salt)
3 oz fresh mozzarella can always use more or less, depends on your preference
fresh basil chopped, for topping

Instructions

Set your oven rack to the middle of the oven. Place a pizza stone on the middle rack and then preheat the oven to 500°F. When cooking pizza, you always want to do it in a HOT oven.
While the oven is preheating, roll the pizza dough onto a piece of parchment paper, roll into whatever shape your pizza stone is (mine is rectangular, others have round pizza stones. (Shape of the pizza doesn't matter, you just want to make sure it'll fit on your pizza stone). Roll it nice and thin.
Spoon the crushed tomatoes onto the dough. Smear it into a thin layer leaving a 1 inch border along the perimeter to act as the "crust". I do a fairly thin layer of crushed tomatoes, but if you want more, feel free to add more. If you rolled the dough really thin and your pizza is quite large, you may need more than 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes.
Sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt over the sauce, then top with the fresh mozzarella, spreading it out evenly amongst the pizza.
Using a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet) grab the parchment paper and slide the pizza onto of the pizza peel and transfer the parchment and pizza to the pizza stone. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and areas of the pizza are lightly golden brown.
Remove the pizza from the oven using the same method you used to place it in the oven. Use a pizza peel (or back of a baking sheet) and carefully push the pizza peel under the parchment paper and slide the parchment and pizza onto the pizza peel. Transfer to a cutting board. Top with fresh chopped basil, cut and enjoy!

Nutrition