Neapolitan-style Margherita Pizza with a twist
We’ve been to Naples several times, and there is nothing like a Margherita Pizza fresh out of a wood oven. In Naples they cook pizza at super high heat. True Neapolitan pizzas are cooked in a few minutes and fill the streets with the smell of melted tomato and cheese. Vespa drivers stack boxes on the back of their seat and deliver steaming hot pizzas to your door. This is the best imitation we’ve come up with without a wood oven. We make the dough in our bread maker using the dough cycle.
Needed for this recipe:
Sunshine Coast Olive Oil Co. Tuscan Herb Infused Olive Oil
Sunshine Coast Olive Oil Co. Chipotle Olive Oil
Ingredients:
Dough:
1.5 cups water
2 ¾ cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
Toppings:
Sunshine Coast Olive Oil Co. Tuscan Herb Infused Olive Oil
Sunshine Coast Olive Oil Co. Chipotle Infused Olive Oil
cornmeal
Tomatoe Sauce
Bocconcini cheese (Saputo brand is the closest I have found to real buffalo mozzarella, though there is a very good soft mozzarella available at some Costcos)
Fresh Basil
Red peppers (if you are purist about Margherita Pizza, then omit this intrusion)
(any toppings that you like are great)
Recipe:
Place dough ingredients in your bread maker in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough/pasta setting. My bread maker has a two hour cycle, so I start the bread maker 2.5 hours before I want to eat, and prepare all the toppings before the dough is ready. Preheat oven to desired temperature (see below) before dough cycle is complete.
Once the dough is ready, divide into 2 or 3. Roll each piece out on a floured surface. If you feel like it, make a fist and spin the dough around your fist (flour your fist first), being careful not to tear the dough. Sing in Italian while doing so. It helps.
Depending on the thickness of your cookie sheet or pizza tin, your dough may stick (especially true with thinner tins). So, if you spread a ½ tsp of cornmeal on the plate before you put your dough on it, the pizza will scoop out easily once cooked.
Place your dough on the cookie sheet or pizza tin. Roll up the edges.
Drizzle Tuscan Herb Olive Oil over the dough and brush over the crust.
Then spread tomatoe sauce.
Layer with fresh basil and red peppers.
Slice the bocconcini cheese and layer over top.
Bake in a very hot often (we use 525 degrees convection bake). Keep an eye on your pizza, but it takes anywhere from 4-10 minutes to be ready, and depending on how thinly you roll your crust and on whether you have convection.
A fun twist? Drizzle Chipotle Infused Oil on the cooked pizza before serving.