Easy Margherita Pizza Recipe

When it comes to food, the simplest recipe is often the tastiest. This Margherita pizza recipe is just that according to the submitter. Cheesy tomato sauce with fresh basil on top and his favorite Trader Joes pizza dough really hit the spot.

The instructions assume that you have a pizza stone, a pizza paddle and cornmeal/flour for cooking. A video is included below to help with pizza making at home.

Margherita Pizza
submitted by Neal Anderson

Ingredients:

• 1 package plain Trader Joes pizza dough, 16 oz (or use your preferred recipe from scratch)
• 1 can plum tomatoes, 14 oz
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, diced (optional)
• basil leaves
• 1 package Trader Joes mozzarella cheese, 8 oz

Direction:

Preheat oven to 450 deg F with pizza stone on the lowest rack.

Prepare the dough according to instructions over pizza paddle sprinkled with cornmeal or all purpose flour. For Trader Joes pizza dough, be sure it's at room temperature. 10"-12" diameter is a manageable size for most occasions.

Make pizza sauce by mashing tomatoes with a potato masher in a medium-to-large bowl then adding oregano, salt, garlic and olive oil. Stir until well mixed.

Spread sauce over pizza dough. Then tear off chunks of mozzarella cheese and arrange evenly over the sauce and dough. This is not like making a conventional pizza where shredded cheese is spread out to cover the sauce. Mozzarella will cover the pizza when melted. Add basil leaves on top.

Place pizza in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven carefully and serve.

Here's the video for general tips on cooking homemade pizza properly: