Pizza Margherita for the Queen of Italy

Let’s make a Pizza Margherita.

Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil and a drizzle of good olive oil. Few and simple are the ingredients, but the Margherita is always the most loved.

Although many claim to have been the first ones to create the Pizza Margherita, traditionally it is believed that in 1889, in order to honor the queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoia, Chef Raffaele Esposito dedicated this special pizza to her. He carefully chose the colors of the Italian flag by topping the flat bread with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella slices, and green basil leaves. There is nothing better than to build community with family and friends around a Pizza Oven.

Following is just a simple way to make your very own pizza Margherita directly in the Fontana Wood-fired Oven.

* Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients for Pizza Sauce and Toppings:

• 1 can plum Roma tomatoes crushed
• Salt 1 tsp
• Sugar 1/4 tsp
• Basil
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Olive oil

Prep Work for Oven:

Once preheating of the oven has occurred, check the temperature of your cooking surface by pointing the infrared thermometer on the stone of the cooking surface in the oven. The ideal temperature to cook pizza should be between 700°-750°F. Failure to wait until this temperature range has been achieved will result in an unevenly cooked or even undercooked pizza.

Directions:

There are many sauces on the market made specifically for pizza. The sauce that we use in Tuscany is simple and delicious. First, crush peeled Roma tomatoes from a can in a bowl.

Add enough salt to taste.

Add a little sugar if necessary in order to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. The sauce is ready! Now enjoy pure, simple and genuine flavors.

STRETCHING the Pizza Dough

(Pizza Neapolitan Style)

There are several options to prepare the famous pizza. The first method you will learn is to simply stretch the Pizza dough by hand, without the help of a rolling pin. Stretching the dough by hand allows for a slightly thicker pizza and a beautiful ‘cornicione’.

Place the pizza ball on a floured surface, and position your fingers on the edge of the ball, pressing down all around the circumference of the dough.

 Gently flatten the surface at the center of the dough ball.

Lift the flattended dough ball and allow gravity to stretch the dough further. Do this all around the circumference of the stretched dough ball.

With your fingers bent, gently stretch the dough even more. Continue by moving both hands all around the stretched dough ball.

Stretch the dough gently in order to make sure the gluten strands relax, to avoid creating holes.

Make sure that the flattened dough rests on a well floured surface, thus preventing it from sticking. In the center of the stretched dough, place the ladel with the tomato sauce.

With a circular motion spread the tomato sauce toward the edge of your pizza. Be careful not to get too close to the edge or you may run into problems when you try to pick the pizza up with the peel.

 Place slices of fresh mozzarella on top of the tomatoes.

Drizzle the top with olive oil.

 With a firm, quick sweeping movement slide the peel under the dough.

Again, with a swift and quick move, bring the peel into the hot oven and pull back in order to allow the pizza to rest on the hot stone.

With the help of the small turning peel, and with a rotating movement, turn the dough in such a way that the furthest part of the pizza will now be close to the fire.

In less than two minutes the pizza will be perfectly baked and ready to be taken out.

Finally ready!

It is time to take it out of the oven.

Place some fresh basil on top of your beautifully baked pizza and enjoy!

ROLLING the Pizza Dough

(Pizza Tuscan Style)

Place the pizza ball on a floured surface and position your fingers on the edge of the ball pressing down gently all around the circumference of the dough.

Gently flatten the surface of the center of the dough ball.

Place the rolling pin in the center of the dough ball working your way out toward the edges.

Once again you have the option to pick up the dough with your fingers bent in order to further stretch the dough.

With a circular motion spread the tomato sauce towards the edge of your pizza. Be careful not to get too close to the edge or you may run into problems when you try to pick up the pizza with the peel.  

 Place slices of fresh mozzarella on top of the tomatoes.

 Drizzle olive oil on top of the pizza.

With a firm, quick sweeping move, slide the peel under the dough.

Again, with a swift and quick move, bring the peel into the hot oven and pull back in order to allow the pizza to rest on the hot stone.

You can partially close the oven door in order for the oven to keep a steady temperature.

With the help of the small turning peel, and with a rotating movement, turn the dough in such a way that the furthest part of the pizza will now be close to the fire.

The pizza is now perfectly ready!

Finally ready to take it out of the oven!

Enjoy!

What is your favorite way to make pizza?

Allow me to give you just a little background history

Although I was privileged to grow up in Italy, the very birthplace of the iconic PIZZA, it was only on very rare occasions that my family would go out to a Pizzeria. Pizza was definitely a most special treat and mom would often allow us to help prepare it and bake it in the oven of our kitchen.

As a young child my family was blessed to own a house in the Appenine mountain range of Tuscany.

The 600-year-old house is nestled on a hill right outside of Florence, Italy. Forty years ago many homes in the countryside were left abandoned as families moved to the cities. What an incredible gift when we first stepped foot into this ancient home. Everything was not perfect, and my memory vividly remembers the caved in roof through which one could admire the stars at night. Mice scurried over our sleeping bags during the night, and the luxury of a bathroom was nonexistent. This comodity was replaced instead with a cold piece of marble with a round hole carved int the middle on which rested a straw doughnut to sit on.

Dad slowly fixed it up and restored it back to its rustic glory. To this day my family still lives in the same home. Four of our six children were blessed to live there and one of our daughters had the privilege of being born in this idyllic and breathtaking part of the world.

Typically these old homes were equipped with a wood-fired oven and it was here that we finally were able to experiment and then become proficient in cooking in a wood-burning pizza oven. How thankful I am that even though we no longer live there, we are now able to experiment and cook in the test kitchen of the Fontana wood-fired ovens.