Last Tuesday, we moved into our new house. After 12 hours on my feet and nothing but a few grapes and a handful of peanut M&Ms in my stomach (so many leftover), anything sounded good. We dashed to the nearest restaurant and found ourselves ordering appetizers and a five cheese + tomato pizza at California Pizza Kitchen.
But after those incredible slices I had last week, my mind was set on making a fresh and simple pizza recipe at home. This classic margherita pizza recipe is like a regular cheese pizza… just all grown up. Look at all this beautiful basil! Man oh man, cheese pizza is so much better when you add a little freshness.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 recipe
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup your favorite pizza or tomato sauce
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
- 2 plum tomatoes, sliced (or any tomato you like)
- handful of fresh basil
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
Prepare the pizza dough, including preheating the oven to 475F as described in step 8.Mix the olive oil and chopped garlic together in a small dish. After waiting 15 minutes as described in step 11, spread olive oil/garlic mixture on top of crust. Top with pizza sauce, then the mozzarella cheese slices, then the tomato slices.
Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is bubbling. For the last minute, I move the oven rack to the top rack to really brown the edges. That's optional.
source here
