Classic Margherita Pizza

This is one of the basic pizza recipe that I had seen on Youtube and over the period I have many variations of it. But in it's simplicity Margherita pizza is exquisite. It's very simple to put together and tastes absolutely delicious. My kiddos love pizza and am sure most of the kiddos do. Try this one at home and see how easy it is to impress them.

Prep Time: 15 min |  Cooking Time: 10 mins/ pizza | Resting time: 1 hr | Serves: 4 (Makes two pies)

Ingredients:

For pizza base:
Whole wheat flour - 2 Cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Brown Sugar (optional) - 2 tsp.
Chili Flakes (optional) - 1 tsp.
Warm water - 1 Cup
Dry Active Yeast - 1 tbsp.

For pizza topping:
Pizza Sauce - 1 Cup
Parmesan Cheese - 1/2 Cup
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp.
Fresh Basil leaves - handful
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese - 8 oz

Method of Preparation:

~ Add yeast to the warm water and let it sit for 10 min.
~ In a wide bowl add the flour, salt and optional brown sugar & chili flakes. Add the yeast mix to this and gently mix it to make a pliable dough.
~ Now slowly knead while you stretch and pull the dough.
~ Make two portions of the dough, cover them with a damp cloth and let it rest for half an hour to one hour.
~ When you are ready to make the pizzas, preheat the oven to 450 deg Fahrenheit and leave the pizza stone in there.
~ Flour the surface and work with each portion of the dough to make it into about 8 to 9 inch pizza base. Keep the edges little thicker.
~ Top the two pizzas with sauce, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, fresh basil leaves and mozzarella cheese in that order.
~ Transfer pizzas to the hot pizza stone (Careful!!!!). Bake for 10 minutes, cut and enjoy steaming hot pizza slices.

Note:
1. If you do not have pizza stone, no worries, any cookie sheet or pizza sheet will work too. Bake for 15 minutes on the pizza pan.
2. Fresh ingredients such as mozzarella and basil enhances the flavors tremendously.

Linking this to:
BakeFest#32, SaturdayNightFever, MyFavoriteThings