Pan pizza Margherita alla Francesca

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 60 g water, lukewarm
• 3 g broth powder (mushroom broth), with mushroom flavor
• 1 tsp sugar
• 10 g dry yeast
• 120 g wheat flour type 405
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tbsp olive oil for frying
• 2 tbsp olive oil, cold squeezed
• 4 m.-sized tomatoes
• 2 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp Italian herbs, frozen or dried
• 1 tsp sage leaves, dried
• 4 capers
• 1 pinch of salt
• 80g mozzarella
• 4 slices of Pecorino or mountain cheese
• 1 pinch(s) of chili powder, e.g. Pul Biber
• 4 basil leaves

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 5 minutes

A crispy, juicy pizza where the base tastes amazing. Recipe from Liguria, Italy.

Mix the water, mushroom broth, sugar, and dried yeast and let the yeast rise for about 5 minutes. Place the mixture in a mixing bowl with the flour and knead using the dough hook of a hand mixer until a crumbly dough forms. Add the olive oil and knead for at least 10 minutes. When the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to the bowl, remove it from the bowl and form it into a ball, dust with flour, and return it to a bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour. Then knead thoroughly, dust with flour, and wrap in cling film and let it rise for another hour in the refrigerator. In the meantime, wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, peel, quarter, and deseed them. Cut half of them into small cubes. Place the remaining tomato quarters in a food processor (or similar) with the herbs, sage leaves, capers, salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and puree until smooth. Mix the puree with the diced tomatoes and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Wash and roughly chop the basil leaves. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a diameter of 26 cm. Place it in a 30 cm frying pan coated with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Let it rise with the lid on for about 30 minutes. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake the underside over medium heat with the lid on until golden brown. Briefly remove the base from the pan and add the remaining cooking oil and 2 tablespoons of water to the pan. Brush the brown side of the base with the extra-virgin olive oil and place it in the pan with this side up. Spread with the tomato puree, sprinkle with the coarsely grated mozzarella and top with the pecorino slices. Halve large slices and layer them in half. Sprinkle with chili powder and bake with the lid on over medium heat until the cheese has melted. Remove from the pan and place on a wooden board. It’s best to cut into 8 pieces with a large knife, garnish, and serve. Note: Some pizza chefs let their dough rise in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Well, I tried it, but I didn’t detect that incomparable flavor improvement I’d been told about. Well, it must have been the flour. Who in the Far East has Italian pizza flour? Resting the dough for an hour in the refrigerator definitely makes it more pliable and prevents it from constantly shrinking back when rolled out.