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Margherita Pizza

Classic Homemade Pizza Recipe

I use the whole can of tomatoes to make the sauce, but you won't need all of it for your pizza. Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container for 2-3 months and used to make more pizzas or as a marinara sauce for pasta. This recipe makes one very large pizza or two medium pizzas.

YIELD 1 14 inch/35 cm pizza (or 2 medium pizzas)
Author Shiran

Ingredients

Tomato sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 can (400 g/14 oz) crushed tomatoes
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano, or more to taste
  • Salt and pepper

Pizza:

  • pizza dough (click on this link for the recipe)
  • 150 g/5.3 oz (about 1 and ½ cups) shredded mozzarella cheese (or thin mozzarella discs)
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • Toppings of your choice
  • Olive oil , for the crust

Instructions

  1. To make the tomato sauce:

    Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant. Add tomatoes (with liquid) and oregano, and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. (Sauce will keep, covered with plastic wrap, for up to a week in the fridge or for several weeks in the freezer.)

  2. To make the pizza:

    Preheat oven to the highest temperature (450°F-500°F) for at least 30 minutes before baking. Set oven rack to the lowest position and place a baking stone on the rack. If you don’t have a baking stone, use an upturned baking sheet instead.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, stretch the dough into a 14-inch/35cm disc using your fingertips, working along the outer edge and rotating it in quarters after each stretch. The dough should be very thin. Transfer dough carefully to parchment paper.
  4. Spread ¼ - ½ cup tomato sauce evenly over dough, leaving a border around the edge. Sprinkle with cheeses and add toppings of your choice. Brush the rim with olive oil.
  5. Slide parchment paper with the pizza onto a pizza peel (if you don’t have a pizza peel, use a large flat plate or cutting board), then slide onto the baking stone. Be careful when you open your oven, it will be very hot.
  6. Bake for 7-10 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown and crispy. To remove pizza from the oven, slide parchment paper with the pizza back onto the peel. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

For homemade pizza dough, here is my tried and true pizza dough recipe with rave reviews on Pinterest.