Experience the simple pleasure of making a margherita pizza

You’re wearing a slightly creased apron. The bag of flour stands eager and waiting to one side. You’re about to take the first step on the journey of homemade pizza. It probably feels a bit daunting, because pizza isn’t just winging it, it’s pizza. But just think how cathartic rolling out that dough will be, kneading away all the day’s burdens. The simplicity of hot strings of melted mozzarella, fresh basil and ripe vine tomatoes, Italy’s quintessential margherita, is just a moment away.

Ingredients:

2 balls of pizza dough, the size of oranges
4–6 Tbsp tomato sauce or check out the one we made in this recipe
100g vine tomatoes, sliced
2 balls Fior di latte mozzarella
Basil leaves
Olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C. Whether you’re using a baking pan or pizza stone, pop that in the oven to heat up with the oven. Don’t have a pizza stone? A terracotta tile works too.
2. Roll out the dough into two pizza bases.
3. Dust the bases with flour, flip onto a pizza stone and bake each base for 5–10 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread over the tomato sauce, sprinkle over a few slices of fresh tomatoes and top with torn chunks of mozzarella.
4. Put it back in the oven for 10–12 minutes until the pizza is cooked through and the cheese has melted (this timing will vary depending on the heat of your oven).
5. Remove and allow to cool for a minute before serving.

Now comes the final touch, top with fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper. If you want to heat things up, try some tabasco sauce or Sriracha.

If you’re anything like us, the pizza wouldn’t even have made it to the table. So if you’re standing over the stove, pulling apart these hot slices of uncomplicated goodness, then, you did it right. You know which wine glass is yours because it’s the one covered in floury fingerprints. It’s the simple things in life.