Pizza margherita in 4 easy steps
See this recipe step by step

Pizza margherita in 4 easy steps

Even a novice cook can master the art of pizza with our simple step-by-step guide. Bellissimo

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 2 pizzas, serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Pizzas uncooked

Method

  1. Make the base: Put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well, pour in 200ml warm water and the olive oil and bring together with a wooden spoon until you have a soft, fairly wet dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins until smooth. Cover with a tea towel and set aside. You can leave the dough to rise if you like, but it's not essential for a thin crust.
  2. Make the sauce: Mix the passata, basil and crushed garlic together, then season to taste. Leave to stand at room temperature while you get on with shaping the base.
  3. Roll out the dough: If you've let the dough rise, give it a quick knead, then split into two balls. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into large rounds, about 25cm across, using a rolling pin. The dough needs to be very thin as it will rise in the oven. Lift the rounds onto two floured baking sheets.
  4. Top and bake: Heat oven to 240C/fan 220C /gas 8. Put another baking sheet or an upturned baking tray in the oven on the top shelf. Smooth sauce over bases with the back of a spoon. Scatter with cheese and tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and season. Put one pizza, still on its baking sheet, on top of the preheated sheet or tray. Bake for 8-10 mins until crisp. Serve with a little more olive oil, and basil leaves if using. Repeat step for remaining pizza.
Try

Troubleshooting

If the dough is too wet: Add a bit more flour and work it in. If dough is too stretchy to roll out: Leave it to rest for 10 mins or so, then try again. You need far more pressure when rolling dough than when rolling out pastry. If the base isn't cooked: Baking the pizza on top of a preheated sheet or tray should prevent this. However, it could be too thick or have too much topping. If the topping is cooked before the base, cover with foil and give it another 5 mins.

Choose your toppings

Fancy a bit more topping? Here's some suggestions. Olives, ham and chargrilled artichokes; Spicy sausage, chilli or jalapeños and sliced tomato; Spinach, garlic, gorgonzola cheese and a whole egg cracked on top; Creamy mascarpone, pesto, roasted red peppers and sliced mushrooms. Or if you are not sure what you fancy - why not do half and half.

Garlic & rosemary bread

Leave the dough a bit thicker, brush with oil and stud with rosemary sprigs. Bake for 15 mins or until risen and golden. Brush with garlic butter.

Calzone

Pile sauce and toppings onto one half of the dough circle, brush the edge with a little water, then fold and pinch to make a pasty shape. Bake until golden as before.

Per serving

431 kcalories, protein 19g, carbohydrate 59g, fat 15 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 3g, sugar 2g, salt 1.87 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2007.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 181-200

  • Binder photo klaracuco

    12 March 2012

    klaracuco commented on this recipe

    Absolutely delicious!!!

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  • Binder photo bubbbinka

    13 March 2012

    bubbbinka rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo rosesred

    17 March 2012

    rosesred rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made these pizzas with my 2 year old son. We used this recipe and added extra toppings. It was very easy to do and very tasty! Infact my partner said it's one of the nicest pizzas he's had.

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  • Binder photo Ejt1

    17 March 2012

    Ejt1 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastic and easy pizza recipe! I made 3 hand held size and a larger size with the dough with quite thick bases, so I left the in longer and covered with foil as stated in the tip section. I used passata and a tsp of oregano with pepperoni and grated mozzarella for the topping. Lovely and great first attempt at making a pizza!

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  • Binder photo Lilia

    18 March 2012

    Lilia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I have never made pizza before and I made this one with my 4 year old son,it was easy and fun to make and for the first time he had seen how pizza was made,it turned out really lovely my husband said it was one off the nicest pizza's he ever had and my son ate the best part of his pizza,we will be making this again.Top marks.

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  • Binder photo Simmy B

    27 March 2012

    Simmy B rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was delicious! The only tiny additions I suggest was that I love the grainy authentic texture of semolina in a pizza base so instead of adding to dough mixture at mixing stage I floured my surface with a little whilst kneading. I also added again on the baking tray along with a little flour for pizza to sit on while baking, a little peppering of it on the top with a brush of olive oil before my base went on a preheated baking tray ensured a crispy centre and authentic appearance. Bellissimo ;)

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  • Binder photo Cyclefly

    20 April 2012

    Cyclefly commented on this recipe

    Easy recipe and always gets massive brownie points when a date realises that I did the "dough from scratch". The dough - although slightly labour intensive is easily refridgerated until needed. The sauce is especially good when done as the recipe states "with fresh basil".

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  • Binder photo Neekaaa

    30 April 2012

    Neekaaa commented on this recipe

    I am looking forward in making this recipe :)

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  • Binder photo satumarjatta

    01 May 2012

    satumarjatta commented on this recipe

    Lovely recipe but I just cannot get the bases crisp up. I have a pizza stone. does it make a difference if I have a sheet of parchment paper between the base and stone? I find this is the way to move the uncooked pizzas from countertop to stone. Could the base be pre-cooked for 5mins before adding toppings to help with the base-crisping?

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  • Binder photo Kerry

    06 May 2012

    Kerry rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I will never buy a frozen pizza again, amazing recipe, my son loves them!

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  • Binder photo YummyFood

    07 May 2012

    YummyFood rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe is amazing, it's like something you'd get from a really expensive Italian restauarant. Will make again. Also when you consider a takeaway pizza is about £15 this is soooooo much cheaper and tastier!

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  • Binder photo Sam Fitz

    14 May 2012

    Sam Fitz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is such an easy way to make pizza and garlic bread, it comes out delicious!

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  • Binder photo Nicola

    22 May 2012

    Nicola commented on this recipe

    Looks like a fab recipe! Ever tried a fusion pizza? http://bit.ly/student-recipes-indian-pizza

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  • Binder photo garethleavy

    23 May 2012

    garethleavy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    my other half swears by this pizza base recipe, it make an incredible lovely base and with the simple pizza sauce it makes it oustanding...

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  • Binder photo scotcat

    23 May 2012

    scotcat rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Totally brilliant!

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  • Binder photo fairycakekathy

    23 May 2012

    fairycakekathy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Have made this numerous times with various toppings and has always delighted guests - novice and seasoned chefs alike! Highly recommended

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  • Binder photo Tam

    28 May 2012

    Tam rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    5 stars for the base - I used brown flour rather than white - very good. Tip for the tomato base - carton or tin of chopped toms plus some sauce flour to thicken it, a touch of sugar to sweeten, a dash of balsamic vinegar, a sprinkle of dried herbs (eg basil). I didn't read the recipe properly and didn't buy any passata so we came up with this instead...!

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  • Binder photo nikkinoodle

    14 June 2012

    nikkinoodle rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very successful easy recipe. Son (10) is a very fussy eater one of his staples is a margarita pizza, the beauty of this recipe is at least I know what is going into it, especially as we eat pizza once a week. Son gave it 4 stars, a rare occurence for him. Also made a florentine version and will do mascarpone, pesto & pepper variation. Have found ready made pizza's to be particularly unadventurous for vegetarians. This will be a recipe I come back to time and time again, daughter (8) loved kneading the dough!

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  • Binder photo SabinaP

    27 June 2012

    SabinaP rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo gengen83

    09 July 2012

    gengen83 commented on this recipe

    Made this with my 3 & 6 year olds, absolutly delicious!!! easy, fast & tastier than shop bought or takeaway versions. Will definatly be makeing this again.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 2 pizzas, serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 10 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Pizzas uncooked

Ingredients

FOR THE BASE

  • 300g strong bread flour
  • 1 tsp instant yeast (from a sachet or a tub)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil , plus extra for drizzling

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE

FOR THE TOPPING

TO FINISH

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Per serving

431 kcalories, protein 19g, carbohydrate 59g, fat 15 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 3g, sugar 2g, salt 1.87 g

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