![Pizza Margherita](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/09/dining/09JPPIZZA2/09JPPIZZA2-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Pizza Margherita
Sam Sifton, Carlo Mirarchi, Brandon Hoy, Chris Parachini, Katherine Wheelock
3201 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
3,201
15 minutes, plus 1 hour to heat oven
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In a comfortably large, preferably rectangular plastic container, dissolve the yeast into 1¾ cups of lukewarm water. Mix in the flour with your hand, squishing it together, just until the flour is absorbed. The dough will be very wet and shaggy. Remove what stuck to your fingers, and mix into the dough. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Dissolve the salt in remaining ⅛ cup of water, and mix with your hand into the dough. Don’t worry if it doesn’t all mix in. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and rest for another 20 minutes at room temperature.
With wet hands, release the dough from the sides of the container. Coat the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon of oil, and make a trifold or letter fold by lifting up the dough one-third of the way through and letting the end drop and fold underneath. Repeat this action on the other side so that the seam is on the bottom. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Repeat this process two more times. After the third fold, rest the dough in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Sometime halfway through resting, repeat the trifold with oil one last time.
If you have a pizza stone, slide it on the lowest rack or on the floor of your oven, and heat oven to 500. Heat for at least 30 minutes and preferably longer before baking. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove the peels and crush gently into medium chunks by hand; lay on a sheet pan or some wax paper in one layer to allow them to cool.
Lightly grease an 18-by-13-inch jellyroll pan with olive oil. (A cookie sheet of a similar size makes a good alternative.) Wipe the pan clean with a dry paper towel; it’s important not to bake the pizza on too much oil. Flip the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently press out into a rectangle ½-to-¾-inch thick, being careful not to deflate the dough too much. Place one forearm over the dough, and use the other hand to flip the dough over the forearm and then into the pan, leaving the floured side up. Rearrange the dough on the pan, again pressing only lightly.
Spread the topping evenly across the dough, drizzle generously with oil and bake on the pizza stone (or directly on the bottom of the oven or lowest rack) for 5 minutes. Move the pizza to the middle rack in the oven, and continue to bake for 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden brown.
Using a bench scraper or metal spatula, scoop under the pizza, and scrape to release it from the pan. This may take some blind faith and a bit of elbow grease. Slide out onto a cutting board, and slice into pieces using a chef’s knife, scissors or pizza cutter. Serve immediately or at room temperature, or reheat.
Variations
Rick Easton creates new variations seasonally, and so can you. Some of his current favorites are:
Drain and crush high-quality canned tomatoes, and bake with those, dried oregano, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Drain and crush high-quality canned tomatoes and bake with those, fresh mozzarella, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Drain and crush high-quality canned tomatoes, and bake, then top with fried mild, thin-fleshed peppers (like Jimmy Nardello), anchovies, bread crumbs, chopped parsley, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Drain and crush high-quality canned tomatoes, and bake, then top with fried rounds of eggplant and a cherry-tomato salad tossed with mint, garlic, hot pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
convert the water to grams using 30 grams/oz = 450 grams + 500 grams flour = 950 grams
1/6 of 950 =150 grams of 100% hydration starter
then subtract 75 grams from the water and from the flour. this gives you: 150 gr starter, 375 grams water and 425 grams flour = 950 grams
In Step One, it says, "The dough will be very wet and shaggy." Well, my dough is currently resting in the refrigerator and I have to tell you it is definitely the wettest pizza dough I've ever made. The dough will be very wet and shaggy.
This pizza was delicious! I made the crust with 100% sprouted wheat flour. I also used both purple and white potatoes (pretty!) and mixed them all with the rosemary and a lot of fresh thyme before putting them on the pizza. There is a lot of dough and the crust is thicker than I like for a pizza..... more like focaccia bread. You could make two smaller thinner crust pizzas directly on a pizza stone and skip the sheet pan.
This is the wettest dough ever. According to directions I cannot do step 3 - too wet
This crust is really good and not as much trouble as the recipe implies; however, the potato topping was just ok. I think the onions would be an improvement as well as garlic. I let it sit in the refrigerator longer than the 24 hours and it was still fine. The layers in the crust are what makes the pizza.
Authentic potato pizza in Italy does not have cheese and the taters are never boiled in advance, just thinly sliced so they cook with the dough. It's a phenomenal dish.
Pizza with potatoes on top is popular in Rome. However, the potatoes are peeled and thinly sliced (like with a mandolin) and then placed over the pizza base which has been lightly spread with good olive oil, thin slices of garlic and chopped rosemary. Freshly ground sea salt and pepper on top finishes it off.
I want to make this dough but the amount of water is confusing: On the Ingredient list water is stated as: 1 7⁄8 cups lukewarm water Step One states to: dissolve the yeast into 13⁄4 cups of lukewarm water And Step Two states: Dissolve the salt in remaining 1⁄8 cup of water Any ideas anyone? Also, what yeast, powdered form or baker's (solid) form yeast?
1¾ + ⅛ = 1⅞ cups or 1¾ + 2 T. = 1⅞ 16 T. = 1 cup 3/4 of a cup = 12 T. 12 T. + 2 T. = 1¾ cup ---h These recipes are written for the everyday cook, and not many people use the solid yeast. I would just use the powdered granules unless the recipe states otherwise. I hope your questions have been answered by now, if not, hope this helps.
Ok. Just saw the comment that clarifies the water measurments. If someone could confirm that. And if anyone could still answer the yeast question that would be great.
Could someone please clarify the problems below. I am looking for a really good pizza dough recipie to cook in a brick pizza oven, and somewhere else I saw a recommendation for Rick Eastman's pizza dough, so I would like to try it. Ingedients for Pizza dough......1 7⁄8 cups lukewarm water what does this mean in step 1 13⁄4 cups of lukewarm water. In step 2 Dissolve the salt in remaining 1⁄8 cup of water, I realise these are typos but am not smart enough to solve.
The accompanying recipe for Rick Easton's Pizza with Peppers appears to have the right measurements, or at least no obvious typos. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017793-rick-eastons-pizza-with-peppers
1 7/8 cup lukewarm water Step 1 uses 1 3/4 cup Step 2 uses remaining 1/8 cup
Excellent idea. I have tried Pizza with potatoes before and can vouch for the deliciousness factor. The one I tried, in the Sydney (Australia) italian suburb of Haberfield, included - in addition to the dough - Arugula, Olive oil and thinly sliced round pieces of potatoes.
I've made a lot of pizza crusts at home and none has come out as delicious as this one. It's a bit of a pain to keep turning the dough but was worth the little extra effort. The dough was chewy and flavorful, though a little thick. Thanks for other's suggestions of using carmelized onions! I also thinly sliced my potatoes and sauteed/steamed them with herbs a la Deborah Madison's Green's cookbook instead of boiling them.
This pizza was delicious! I made the crust with 100% sprouted wheat flour. I also used both purple and white potatoes (pretty!) and mixed them all with the rosemary and a lot of fresh thyme before putting them on the pizza. There is a lot of dough and the crust is thicker than I like for a pizza..... more like focaccia bread. You could make two smaller thinner crust pizzas directly on a pizza stone and skip the sheet pan.
This crust is really good and not as much trouble as the recipe implies; however, the potato topping was just ok. I think the onions would be an improvement as well as garlic. I let it sit in the refrigerator longer than the 24 hours and it was still fine. The layers in the crust are what makes the pizza.
Alice Waters at Chez Panisse made a "mexican" pizza with potatoes and chorizo and cilantro which was wonderful.
I thought this needed some carmelized onion to accompany the potatoes. I would never trust this wet crust ... I have used store-bought dough and always had success with any and all pizzas I've made. This potato version is not new to me except, as I say, onions really make it. The other versions Mark presents are to me ordinary pizza toppings, all good.
If I want to use a sourdough starter, any thoughts on how to adjust the recipe??
convert the water to grams using 30 grams/oz = 450 grams + 500 grams flour = 950 grams
1/6 of 950 =150 grams of 100% hydration starter
then subtract 75 grams from the water and from the flour. this gives you: 150 gr starter, 375 grams water and 425 grams flour = 950 grams
Would it be complete heresy to use a faster pizza dough, like 2-ingredient pizza crust (Google it)? I want to try this but the whole song and dance RE the crust gives me visions of pizza dough hanging off every surface of my apartment.
Or, what about store-bought pizza dough? I am pretty sure that one of the bakeries near me sells it.
This is the wettest dough ever. According to directions I cannot do step 3 - too wet
In Step One, it says, "The dough will be very wet and shaggy." Well, my dough is currently resting in the refrigerator and I have to tell you it is definitely the wettest pizza dough I've ever made. The dough will be very wet and shaggy.
I'm making the dough this morning but mine is not very wet--I weighed the 500 g of bread flour and decided to measure it as I added it to the water, and it was much closer to 4 cups, than the 3 1/2 cups the recipe said. Maybe I should have just measured instead of weighed, but weighing is supposed to be more accurate??
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