Margherita pizza is my absolute favourite. Since I have a huge pot of basil growing and I bought like a 10 pound page of mozzarella cheese it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it. I have been using this dough recipe since I got here and it is pretty good but it is still missing that wow factor. Joel recommends I put cornmeal under the dough when I bake it to give it some extra flavour. I think I will try that next. But if that doesn't work I am going to try the recipe from my new favourite blog of the minute Annie's Eats. Yes I know how appropriate. I thought I would share it with you anyways because it is a great easy basic recipe and you can feel free to play it with how you like. 

Here are some pictures to guide you along the way. 

This is what the dough looks like before it doubles in size. I used all white flour here but I usually add at least one cup of whole wheat flour and it takes great. 


This is what it looks like after 5-10 minutes in the oven


Then you pick your favourite toppings like fresh picked basil 


Bake for 15 minutes and Ta Da! 


The one thing I learned from this is I need about 10 times more basil for my liking. I was just so afraid to pick all my plant and have it die, but there is tons more out there now so I should be okay for my next trial. 

Pizza Dough

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar 
1 1/2 cups warm water (110degrees F/45 degrees C) 
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. (I use two smaller pans and stretch out the dough with my hands on the oiled pan, hence the finger marks in the picture above)
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes then bake for 5-10 minutes to set. Let cool a couple minutes then top using your favourite ingredients.
5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

*Update on Zucchini Chocolate Chip Loaf*
If you have any loaf left over (meaning you are not like my pregnant sister who turned the recipe into muffins and ate them all in one day) you may be interested in making them into super sweet french toast. Yummy! 


Blogger is driving me a little crazy and I am having trouble formatting this post so don't mind the different fonts etc. I am working on it.