Pizza Margherita

Name: Pizza Margherita
Yield: Serves 4 to 6 (Makes two 12-inch pizzas)
Ingredients: 1 1/4 teaspoons, instant yeast; 1 cup, water (8 ounces), room temperature; 1 3/4 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces), plus extra for dusting work surface and peel; 1 cup, cake flour (4 ounces); 1 1/2 teaspoons, table salt; 2 teaspoons, sugar; , 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes; 1/2 teaspoon, sugar; 1 small clove, garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (optional); 1/4 cup, chopped fresh basil; 1/4 teaspoon, Table salt; 8 ounces, fresh mozzarella cheese (see note above), cut into 1-inch chunks; 2 teaspoons, extra virgin olive oil

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated July/August 2006

Main Courses

Cheese

Pizza

Authentic recipes for this Neapolitan pizza call for an 800-degree oven, two days of proofing, and a dough expert's hands. We wanted real Margherita--hold the hassle.

SERVES4 to 6 (Makes two 12-inch pizzas)

TIME1¼ hours, plus 1 hour rising

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

We wanted to refit the classic margherita pizza recipe for the home oven, and we didn't want our recipe to take too much time (no multiple rising sessions) or effort. We found that a food processor made quick work of our dough, mixing it in...

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