Pizza Margherita (p. 175)

Pizza Margherita is very similar to Pizza alla Marinara, and I was able to use the leftover sauce that I had made (and frozen) two weeks ago.

This time, when I made the Basic Pizza Dough (p. 171), I let it rise overnight and spent a little more time kneading it after the first rise. I also used a little more olive oil during the second rise (you coat the bowl with olive oil and then place the ball of dough inside), which I think added something to the dough when it came time to form it into the pizza crust. The olive oil made it a little bit easier to toss the dough, and it seemed to create a larger crust this time around.

To make the Pizza Margherita, you spread the tomato sauce over the crust and add mozzarella, salt and pepper, basil, and parmigiano cheese -- it's a very simple recipe. Unfortunately, my grocery store didn't have fresh basil (honestly, what is that about?) so I had to use dried. It would definitely be better with fresh, but the flavors were still great, and the salt and pepper added a lot to it.

This was really delicious. I think that this crust with pretty much anything on it would be awesome, it's really all about the basic dough recipe.

Since the recipe makes enough crust for two pizzas I threw another one together with goat cheese that I picked up at the farmer's market last week. I always love goat cheese, but I think the mozzarella pizza was the winner for the night.

mozzarella -- $3.99

Total Cost of Pizza Margherita: $3.99