Classic Margherita pizza

5.00

Sometimes, all you need is a super simple Margherita pizza: tomato, mozzarella, dough. The soft and easy-to-handle dough is made with Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour, which puffs up beautifully into a super chewy crust. If you don't have a pizza oven, this can also be made in a regular oven preheated for an hour at its highest setting. The pizza will take about 10–15 minutes to cook.

First published in 2024
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Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Pizza base

Tomato sauce

Toppings

Equipment

  • pizza oven

Method

1

Begin by preparing the pizza dough. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together in a big mixing bowl

2

Mix the water and oil together, then stir into the dry ingredients

  • 300ml of warm water
  • 50ml of olive oil, plus extra for greasing
3

Tip the pizza dough onto a lightly flour-dusted surface and knead for 10 minutes (or use the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer for 5 minutes)

4

Lightly grease the mixing bowl with some oil

5

Put the dough back in, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size 

6

Preheat your pizza oven for cooking the pizza

7

Next, prepare the tomato sauce. In a large bowl, mix together the tomato passata, chopped basil, oregano and sugar before seasoning to taste with salt and pepper 

8

Once risen, divide the dough into two pieces – while you're working on one piece, keep the other one under the tea towel to stop it drying out

9

Roll a piece of dough out as thin as you can get it on a lightly-floured surface, then transfer it to a pizza peel dusted with semolina 

  • semolina, for dusting
10

Use your fingers to press down the centre of the dough and create a crust 

11

Spoon the tomato passata sauce onto the base of the pizza, and top with the sliced mozzarella 

12

Cook in the pizza oven for around 1 minute, turning every 10 seconds, or until bubbly and cooked through 

13

Top with some fresh basil leaves as it comes out of the pizza oven and drizzle with olive oil before serving

First published in 2024
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GBC Kitchen is where you'll find accessible, inspiring recipes with a twist, from our in-house team of recipe developers. Perfect for mid-week meals or special occasions alike, GBC Kitchen recipes will help you become a more confident cook, and impress those around you in the meantime! Don't forget to check out our brand new How to Cook guide every month, which focuses on a specific ingredient and ways to use it, alongside four brand new recipes.

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