Frugal Fridays: Margherita Pizza

July 11, 2008

This is my first entry into Frugal Fridays, a new weekly event run by Jerry from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants. The rule is that you have to make a meal for four from ingredients that cost $10 or less. Minor kitchen staples can be excluded (olive oil, salt, etc.).

My entry is actually for two, but under $5 - a margherita pizza. For this you’ll need three cups of flour, two teaspoons of instant yeast, kosher salt, extra virgin olive oil, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and a little Parmesan cheese.

You’ll start (obviously) by making the dough. Just dump your flour, yeast and two teaspoons of salt into a food processor. Turn it on then pour in one cup of water and two tablespoons of olive oil. Process for about 30 seconds or until it forms into a sticky ball. And it should be sticky - feel free to add a little more water while it is processing to get the right consistency.

When you have a nice ball of dough, dump it onto a floured counter and knead it for just a minute before turning it into a nicely shaped ball. Take a large bowl and add a tablespoon of olive oil to it and spread the oil around inside with your fingers. Now, put your dough ball in the oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit in a warm area for an hour or two (or until it doubles in size). Mine took about two hours.

When your dough has risen, turn your oven on to 500 F and make sure you have a baking stone inside. Then, go ahead and dump our your dough. I think I got this from a different recipe, but use your fingers to poke the ball flat with little dimples. When it is deflated and dimple, form it back into a ball and let it rest, covered with a towel, for another 15 minutes.

While the dough is resting, chop your tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.

When the dough is ready (again), put it on top of a piece of parchment paper about the size of the pizza stone and dimple it down again. You can use your fingers to slowly stretch it outwards (which I did at first) or just use a rolling pin (which I did eventually and found much easier).

When your dough is spread out to the right size, just spread 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil on top, then sprinkle some kosher salt and top with the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. Easy as (pizza) pie. Zing!

Put it in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (if you are using the whole dough for one pizza). Let it rest for a minute or two when its done cooking then slice and enjoy! It ended up really good. The fresh tomatoes and basil were great and it had a delicious crunchy crust.

Cost

• Pizza Dough: $0.63
• Tomatoes: $2.00
• Mozzarella: $1.50
• Basil: Free (grown at home)
• Total: $4.13

Preferences and Tips

• This amount of dough makes a thick crust pizza (which is delicious because the dough is so good), but if I did it again I’d probably divide the dough in two and roll it thinner to get two pizzas of the same size, but with thinner crusts.
• I probably used too much mozzarella - it really melts and spreads well.
• The fresh basil is really good. I highly recommend it for this recipe.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Dough

• 3 cups all purpose flour (plus a little more for the counter)
• 2 tsp. instant yeast
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Pizza

• 5-7 campari tomatoes
• 6 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
• 10-15 fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt

Recipe:

1. Mix the dry ingredients for the dough in a food processor and turn it on. Add one cup of water and two tablespoons of the olive oil to the dough. Let it form into a sticky ball - a little more water may be needed.
2. Turn out the dough onto a floured counter and knead it for a minute. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that is oiled with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil (and roll the dough quickly in the oil). Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size (1-2 hours).
3. When the dough has risen, turn on your oven (with pizza stone inside) to 500 F. Put your dough back on the counter and poke it with your fingers until it is flat. Then roll it back into a ball and let it rise for about 15 minutes under a towel.
4. While oven is preheating, chop the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.
5. When the dough is ready (again), roll it flat on a piece of parchment paper. Spread the top with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle it with salt, and then top with the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella.
6. Bake the pizza for 15-20 minutes (if you are using the whole dough amount), or until the crust turns golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

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