Pizza Margherita with Prosciutto
Total time: 65 minutes , if you make the crust from scratch,
35 minutes if you buy the crust
This is not a typical American pizza. It has fresh, garden-ripe tomatoes rather than sauce and fresh mozzarella rather than packaged, shredded. The crust is easy to make, especially if you have a stand-mixer with a dough hook. If you don't make it from scratch buy a good pizza crust at the store.
Ingredients:
- Crust
- 2/3 cup warm water, 105 - 115F, hotter will kill the yeast
- 1 pkg (2 tsp) active dry yeast fast acting if you can get it, 7.2gr, .25oz
- 1/2 tsp sugar you need this to 'feed' the yeast, 2gr, .07oz
- 1/2 tsp salt you need this to 'control' the yeast, 3gr, 1oz
- 1 tbs olive oil, 13.5gr, .48oz
- 2 cups flour, 250gr, 8.8oz
- Topping
- 1 onion, 145gr, 5.1oz
- 1 tbs olive oil, 13.5gr, .48oz
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 cloves garlic, 8gr, .28oz
- 3 - 5 tomatoes, 800gr, 28.3oz
- 4 - 5 slices (3oz, 100gr) Prosciutto or other dry cured ham for me it's Bayonne, 100gr, 3.5oz
- large handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 ball fresh Mozzarella, 112gr, 4oz
- 1/3 cup green or black olives, 54gr, 1.9oz green, pimento stuffed
Instructions:
- Yeast: Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit a few minutes to 'proof' - start to look foamy to prove that the yeast is still alive.
- Dough: If you have a mixer with a dough hook put the yeast and all remaining ingredients in mixer bowl. Blend with dough hook attachment until well mixed then kneed for an additional 3 minutes. Put in a warm place to rise.
- If making by hand put yeast in large bowl along with all of the rest of the ingredients minus 1/2 cup flour. Stir to combine.
- Put remaining flour on work surface, add dough and kneed until smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes. As remaining flour is incorporated dough will become less sticky. Put in warm place to rise.
- After dough has doubled in size, about 30 minutes, punch down.
- Lightly butter a pizza pan or large baking sheet.
- Roll dough out with a rolling pin as best you can.
- Then put on pan and stretch it to fit, patting it out with your fingers. If it keeps springing back wait a few minutes - or accept that your pizza will be slightly smaller than anticipated. Try not to put any holes in the crust.
- Topping
- Finely chop onions and garlic and sauté in olive oil until tender.
- Add oregano and mix well.
- Slice tomatoes as thinly as you can - you should get 5 - 8 slices from each one, depending on how big they are.
- Cut ham into 1 inch strips.
- Tear large basil leaves.
- Slice mozzarella as thinly as you can, then tear into large chunks.
- Cut olives in half.
- To Assemble
- On just-finished crust or your purchased crust: Spread onion/garlic mixture evenly over crust.
- Lay thinly sliced tomatoes evenly over crust - they should be touching and cover the entire crust.
- Bake at 450F (225C) for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add ham, half the basil leaves and cheese.
- Return to oven and bake an additional 10 - 15 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese bubbling.
- Remove from oven, add remaining basil leaves, slice and serve.
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Nutrition Information |
General Technical Details and Disclaimer:
Measurements are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.
I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it. I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.
My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/