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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tasty Tuesdays: Pizza Margherita

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Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!
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WowWow - last week we had 101 recipes linked up!  Thank you so much for linking up your wonderful recipes.  I wish I had time to get around and visit each and every one of you.  All of your recipes always sound delicious.
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A few weeks ago I made the most delicious pizza.  The dough needs to be refrigerated for 24 hours, so if you plan on making it you will need to know ahead of time.  The pizza sauce recipe was amazing - I loved the flavors and think it would be wonderful as a simple sauce for pasta.  
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{ Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine, May 2010.  Find it here. }
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Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water (100° to 110°), divided
- 10 ounce bread flour (about 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
- 1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- Cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
- 3/4 cup Basic Pizza Sauce {recipe @ end}
- 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup small fresh basil leaves
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.1. Pour 3/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and spoons; level with a knife. Add flour to 3/4 cup water; mix until combined. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water and yeast in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add yeast mixture, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to flour mixture; mix 5 minutes or until a soft dough forms. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; cover surface of dough with plastic wrap lightly coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate 24 hours.
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2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand, covered, 1 hour or until dough comes to room temperature. Punch dough down. Press dough out to a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured baking sheet, without raised sides, sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges to form a 1/2-inch border. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap.
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3. Position an oven rack in the lowest setting. Place a pizza stone on lowest rack. Preheat oven to 550°. Preheat the pizza stone for 30 minutes before baking dough.
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4. Remove plastic wrap from dough. Sprinkle dough with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Spread Basic Pizza Sauce evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Arrange cheese slices evenly over pizza. Slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone, using a spatula as a guide. Bake at 550° for 11 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cut pizza into 10 wedges, and sprinkle evenly with basil.
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Basic Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
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1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove tomatoes from can using a slotted spoon, reserving juices. Crush tomatoes. Stir tomatoes, juices, salt, and oregano into garlic mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Just before transferring to pizza stone and going in the oven:
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Fresh out of the oven and sprinkled with basil:
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Yum, I'm getting hungry looking at these photos!
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Now it's your turn, what did you cook this week?
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{ Please add a link in your post back to Tasty Tuesdays or add the Tasty Tuesday button to your post which can be found on my sidebar.  Thanks! }
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23 comments:

  1. Looks so delicious Alissa! I bet the sauce is wonderful!

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  2. What a delicious slice of pizza... thanks for sharing an amazing recipe.

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  3. Beautiful pizza! Thank you for hosting! Happy Tuesday!

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  4. Margherita pizza is one of my favorites, but I've never made my own. Thanks for the recipe!

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  5. YUM! Your pizza looks SOOOOO good!!!

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  6. OMG! this looks AHmazing. i love mozzarella! xoxo jcd:: cornflake dreams

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  7. Thanks for hosting!! This pizza is perfect!

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  8. Hi Alissa,
    That's a great lookin' pizza you got there!

    I shared my Slow Cooked Golden Mushroom Beef. Thanks for hosting!

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  9. Yum! We made a margherita last night too and it was SO good!!! I featured a couple of your cheese dishes today...there have been a lot of good ones lately! :)

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  10. Thank you for sharing this idea! My husbands absolute favorite meal is pizza, and we've been making them at home since Christmas time. I have yet to make my own crust though, instead buying it frozen dough at a local healthy grocery store and letting it thaw. I've also been using jarred marinara from the same store. It's healthier then a lot of the sugar filled ones out there, but I really like the idea of making my own. I'm going to try this. His birthday is this weekend. That might be a good time for it. :)

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  11. So simple and yet so tasty Alissa. I love pizza margherita, and you have taken some gorgeous photos, it is making me crave one now!

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  12. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE Margherita Pizza. I think I'm the only one in the family who does. So, when we go to an authentic Italian restaurant, I always order one. They are SO good when they are fired in a brick oven. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

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  13. Heavenly. I have this recipe. Have yet to make the dough. I am never organized enough to make it ahead of time! But I love the sauce!

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  14. That looks fantastic!!! I <3 pizza :)

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  15. Yum, yum! Licking my lips just thinking about it. You never cease to amaze me with all you can do.

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  16. I am definitely going to make this pizza. Margherita pizza is my favorite!!!

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  17. I work at an Italian restaurant called Cortese Restaurant in Binghamton, New York:
    http://www.corteserestaurant.com/ I have made pizzas at this place for 34 years now. We take pride in one of our finest and best selling pizzas entitled: Florentine (which is comprised of spinach,onion, sour cream, romano and mozzarella Simply delicious! The recipe offered on this page looks rather inviting, maybe I will pass it on to my boss or perhaps you would like to?
    Hello, my name is Richard Hobart and I am a Christian internet marketer trying to replace my income by blogging. This is a great post, please stop by my blog

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  18. Hi Alissa! I am sharing my recipe for Cauliflower Chopped Salad. My vision was for it to taste like a gourmet pasta salad but to substitute cauliflower for the pasta. It has artichoke hearts, salami and lots of other goodies in it.
    Thanks for hosting!

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  19. This pizza looks SO good. I love making pizza at home!

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  20. That looks fabulous! Love marghertia pizza!

    http://turquoiseandteale.blogspot.com/

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  21. Alissa,

    It looks yummy as always!

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  22. These all look so good! Thanks for hosting, and I would love for you to stop by!
    moliorfamiliae.blogspot.com

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  23. first of all your blog is Awesome! thanks so much for the pizza recipe. i am so happy to follow and try more recipes!

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