Last night The Missus and I decided to make some pizza on my FrankenWeber Pizza Kettle. I wanted a change of pace, so I suggested a Pizza Margherita, as we've been doing quite a few meat pizzas of late.
Pizza Margherita is a simple tomato and basil pizza, with or without fresh garlic depending on where you get it. I opted for the fresh garlic.
I also didn't have time to make dough, so just pulled out a bag of Trader Joe's pizza dough from the freezer, which works more than adequately in a pinch. Actually, this stuff is really quite good if you let it sit at room temp for 20 mins in the bag, then pull it out of the bag, lightly flour it, and form it into a ten inch round and let it rest covered another 20 mins before you make your pie. This helps "relax" the dough and makes it very easy to hand stretch.
Ingredients assembled:
Dough now fully relaxed, and ready to hand stretch:
Now time to sauce the pizza:
Fully loaded with mozzarella, a sprinkle of parmesan, fresh garlic, oregano, and sliced roma tomatoes - I don't add the basil until after it cooks as I prefer the sweeter flavor profile of non cooked basil:
Our puppy, Daisy, hoping for a handout:
About 2 minutes into the cook:
6 minutes later, the pie was perfect. We then topped with fresh basil, and sliced:
One of best pizzas yet! I was a little concerned about the garlic not cooking enough, but it was just fine. If someone had told me a few years ago I would be cranking out pizzas like this, I'd have a hard time believing them. I'm really glad I hung in there and persevered - it's been so worth it.
Pizza Margherita is a simple tomato and basil pizza, with or without fresh garlic depending on where you get it. I opted for the fresh garlic.
I also didn't have time to make dough, so just pulled out a bag of Trader Joe's pizza dough from the freezer, which works more than adequately in a pinch. Actually, this stuff is really quite good if you let it sit at room temp for 20 mins in the bag, then pull it out of the bag, lightly flour it, and form it into a ten inch round and let it rest covered another 20 mins before you make your pie. This helps "relax" the dough and makes it very easy to hand stretch.
Ingredients assembled:
Dough now fully relaxed, and ready to hand stretch:
Now time to sauce the pizza:
Fully loaded with mozzarella, a sprinkle of parmesan, fresh garlic, oregano, and sliced roma tomatoes - I don't add the basil until after it cooks as I prefer the sweeter flavor profile of non cooked basil:
Our puppy, Daisy, hoping for a handout:
About 2 minutes into the cook:
6 minutes later, the pie was perfect. We then topped with fresh basil, and sliced:
One of best pizzas yet! I was a little concerned about the garlic not cooking enough, but it was just fine. If someone had told me a few years ago I would be cranking out pizzas like this, I'd have a hard time believing them. I'm really glad I hung in there and persevered - it's been so worth it.
