Recipe // Margherita Pizza.

via

Ingredients

1 pound pizza dough, storebought or homemade

1 pound (2 large) ripe summer tomatoes or 1 16-oz can whole or diced tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup loosely packed basil, sliced into ribbons

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 550°F or as hot as it can go. 

2. Place a baking stone or baking sheet in the oven as it heats. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into 10" rounds. Set aside. 

3. Cut the tomatoes into wedges and trim away the stem area. Gently squeeze the wedges over a bowl to remove the excess juices and seeds. 

4. Combine the tomatoes with the garlic and half of the basil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process until the tomatoes break down into a sauce, scraping down the sides as needed. If desired, strain to make a thicker sauce. 

5. Spread a light layer of the sauce over one of the rounds of pizza. 

6. Top with half of the slices of mozzarella. Leave some space between the pieces of mozzarella. 

7. Transfer the pizzas to the preheated baking stone or baking sheet. 

8. Bake for 5-10 minutes—exact cooking time will vary depending on your oven temperature. 

9. Pizzas are finished when the crust is deep brown with charred spots and the cheese is bubbling. 

10. Top and bake the second pizza. 

11. Sprinkle each pizza with basil as it comes out of the oven. 

12. Let them cool briefly before slicing and serving.

I love pizza, but I especially love homemade pizza. Ever since I found this recipe from the kitchn website, I am hooked. Lately, I have been adding a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top of the tomato sauce, and trying different types of cheese, along with mozza cheese. We've also been using a 50-50 mixture of white and whole wheat flour when making the pizza dough.

What's your favorite homemade pizza recipe? We have a lot of pizza yeast that we need to use up ASAP, so we will be eating a lot of pizza's over the next few weeks!