Pizza Margherita

Friday night around here is pizza night.  Always.  We love pizza and usually make our own, unless Paco pleads with those big brown eyes of his and I give in.

We usually make just a basic pizza dough and then the regular toppings.  Good, but not anything terribly special.

That is, until I found this recipe from (wait.  can you guess?)...  Yes, Taste of Home.  

I've had the recipe cut out and ready to try for um, a couple of years now.  Well, I finally got around to trying it and it is now our family's most favorite pizza ever.  No, seriously.  You should have seen us inhaling it.  It was enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes.

Traditionally, pizza margherita is meatless, which is fine by me, but not my carniverous hubby.  So I added 1 pound of italian sausage and it was awesome, although it would have retained the same level of awesomeness without it.

Ingredients

• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• TOPPINGS:
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, drained
• 20 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 8 cups (2 pounds) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to two greased 14-in. pizza pans; build up edges slightly. Cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rest for 10 minutes.
• Spoon tomatoes over dough. Top with basil (savor the fresh smell of that basil!), oregano, cheese (make sure you grate enough for little fingers to grab as they run by), pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil. Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

*Because I'm having a love affair with my bread machine, I made the dough in the bread machine and I added a little bit of italian seasoning.  Super yummy and easy!

You could also use fresh tomatoes from your garden if you have one rather than the diced tomatoes.  Of course, if, like me, you have a black thumb and you live two miles away from the surface of the sun, you would understand how completely laughable that is for us.