Pizza Margherita

The Naples triumph and my favorite pizza ever! There is something about a charcoal grilled pizza on a warm summer day that just completes me.

Now if you have never grilled a pizza run don’t walk to the store now and pick up a pizza stone now. They are reasonably priced and can be used in ovens, grills and even camping fires! The pizza stone holds the heat more evenly, and the porous surface draws water out the wet areas of the dough as it cooks. The charcoal gives that incredible delicious flavor. Now if you don’t have a charcoal grill you can put soaked hardwood chip in aluminum foil, poke holes in it, and set it in aluminum foil loaf pan. Place on the grill with the pizza, close the lid and boom you will get a nice smoky flavor.

I make this pie 2 ways. The easy way with store bought dough/sauce. Many grocery stores make and bake pizzas in their deli area and you can purchase their risen dough right there! Makes is super easy. The more time consuming way with homemade dough/sauce. For this recipe i will be using the easy ingredients but have my sauce and dough recipes uploaded for when you have that extra time and want to make this authentic and packed with fresh flavor!

Pizza dough

Pizza Dough!

Marinara

Classic Marinara

I have this written in many steps with pictures so if you didn’t work at a pizza restaurant in ur teens like I did you will see many little tricks on how to make the perfect Margherita pie!

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
1/4 cup flour for rolling the dough
pizza sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling on pizza
8oz mozzarella cheese ball (imported from italy is the best. I buy from new seasons)
2 roma tomatoes
10-15 large basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Step 1

If you made dough by hand and are ready to cook then just skip the first proof part and get right to rolling the dough.

If you refrigerate the dough, the first thing to do is remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit out to room temp for about 25 minutes or if you have a dough proof setting on the oven do that for around 6-8 minutes.

Now flour your work surface place dough ball in the center of the flour and press with your from one end to the other to get out all the air bubbles.

Next you are going to flour your rolling pin and roll out into a large 12′ circle or as close of the shape you can get to it. No one is perfect and its just pizza.

Step 2

Once you get the dough rolled out, place onto the pizza stone. Pour the olive oil in a small dish, add the minced garlic and baste the mixture onto the dough.

Step 3

Pour about 3-5 tablespoons depending on taste in the center of the pizza. Take the back of a large spoon and starting from the center begin rolling the sauce counter clock wise, spreading the pizza sauce as even as possible to the edge of the dough. Be sure to leave a small part of the dough dry to create the crust.