It’s said that the pizza that made Naples world famous is the Pizza Margherita in Italian or Pizza Margarita to the rest of the world. It was first baked in 1889 by a local man and the town baker called Esposito. He created the pizza in honour of a visit to Naples by the Queen of Italy, Queen Margherita.
He designed the pizza to follow the colours of the Italian flag, so he chose tomatoes for the red, basil for the green and Mozzarella for the white, to create the famous and patriotic pizza we still eat today.
To make a pizza at home with a food processor is not the lengthy and messy business you might presume.
Try it yourself – authentic pizza are healthier, tastier and certainly more satisfying than shop bought creations.
Just remember the dough is a delicious part of the pizza too and shouldn’t be overwhelmed by too much topping - this can prevent the dough rising as it should.
Pizza Margarita
Ingredients – makes 4X 25cm pizzas
- 3¼ cups of flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- ½ tbsp salt
- 1 cup tomatoes very ripe plum tomatoes or tinned Italian ones
- 1 clove garlic (this is optional and wasn’t included in the original recipe)
- 400g Mozzarella
- 16 fresh basil leaves
Method
- Put the flour, yeast and salt into a food processor, and with the motor running add warm water to make a soft dough that sticks together(about 1¼ cups).
- Keep the processing working for about 45 seconds, adding a little water if the mixture is too dry or a little flour if it’s a bit sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, preferably the same temperature as the dough. Shape it into a ball and cover the bowl with a clean t-towel or cling film and leave it to rise for about an hour at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to its highest temperature.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape into balls, leave on a floured work surface for another 15 minutes.
- Now you can use your hand or a rolling pin and roll the balls out into 25cm circles leaving the edges slightly higher than the center. It’s a good idea to do this on the tray or flat that you’ll be baking in on.
- Cover the top gently with olive oil, if you press too hard you’ll make the dough stick to the tin and it may burn.
- Add the ¼ cup tomatoes spreading them out gently and evenly with the back of a spoon.
- Season with salt and cover with 100g mozzarella cheese and arrange four basil leaves on the top.
- Put in the preheated oven and cook for about 5 minutes until the top is crispy and the mozzarella is bubbling.
Serving suggestion
Pizzas are great hot or cold and make a satisfying and nutrious addition to a packed lunch or picnic.
For a complete balanced meal serve with a large mixed salad dressed with olive oil.
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