Fantastic thin-crust Pizza Margherita at home. We made it!

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Let's face facts. We have been eating pizza since we had teeth and we've been ordering pizza since we were teenagers. As adults, we started seeking out the good stuff - thin crust, simple toppings - real Italian pizza. The trick is the crust and the high heat needed to cook it properly. We found a way to do that at home. For real.

For the hardware, you'll need a food processor, a rolling pin, a thin cutting board or cookie sheet (this is your pizza peel), a pizza stone, and a barbecue grill (gas or charcoal - it doesn't matter, as long as you can get it up to 500 degrees F.

This recipe makes two 10 inch pizzas.

Fresh Pizza Dough:

  • 1/2 cup warm water

  • 1/3 teaspoon dry yeast

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1/3 teaspoon sugar

  • 1 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 1/2 cups Italian 00 flour

In a mixing bowl, add the warm water, yeast, sugar and olive oil and whisk until the yeast is dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. add both to a food processor and pulse until a dough ball is formed. Remove the dough from the food processor and place on a floured countertop and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 balls and cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 15 minutes. Now, it's ready. You can wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for use later or freeze it. No worries. Your dough will wait.

Great Tomato Sauce:

This is super-simple: one big can of crushed San Marzano Italian tomatoes, 5 fresh basil leaves, a big pinch of salt and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Heat on the stove and simmer for 15 minutes.

Toppings:

  • Shredded mozzarella cheese

  • Dried oregano

  • Fresh basil leaves

Let's put it together!

Go outside, place the pizza stone on the grill and light it. Let that thing get up to inferno temperatures.

Back in the kitchen, dust a thin cutting board with ample flour. Place one dough ball in the center and flatten into a disc shape with your fingers. Roll the dough with a rolling pin intil the dough is thin and reaches a diameter of 10-12 inches. It's okay if it's not perfect - the best pizzas are rustic, i.e. weird. Make sure it's not sticking to the board - you want this thing to be able to move. Spoon about 1/2 - 1 cup of the tomato sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.

When the grill is good and hot, take the pizza outside and bring a fork. Slide the pizza onto the stone from the cutting board. If it gets a little wrinkly on the trip, you can straighten it out with the fork. Close the lid and wait about 5-6 minutes. Yes, you can peek.

Once the cheese has melted and the crust is stiff, you're done! Fork that thing off the stone and onto the cutting board. Sprinkle on the oregano and basil, cut and chow down. Obviously, if you're making two, you'll be eating one while making the second, which is exactly how we consume this deliciousness. Once you master this version, the world of toppings is your oyster - including oysters.

If you totally flop at this, you can order a delicious pie like it at Toscana in Brentwood.

Cecilie Korstpixxa, pizza, homemade pizza, /