Joanne Weir's Pizza Margherita

Joanne Weir teaches hands-on cooking courses in her professional kitchen in San Francisco and also has a schedule of week-long journeys to locations in France, Italy, and Spain. She is the author of several cookbooks. Her latest cookbook is Wine Country Cooking.

You can find out more about Joanne Weir and her cooking classes on her Web site.

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes from Italy
• Large pinch of dried oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 fresh basil leaves
• 5 ounces mozzarella di bufala, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 recipe for Weir Dough

Make the pizza dough and let rise.

In a bowl, stir together the tomatoes and oregano. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the dough into 2 round balls. Do not work the dough too much. Roll and form one piece of dough into a 10 to 11-inch circle, 3/8ths-inch thick. Transfer to a heavily floured pizza peel. Spread half of the tomato sauce onto the top of the dough leaving a 1⁄2-inch border around the edge. Tear four of the basil leaves into small pieces and sprinkle onto the tomato sauce, distributing evenly. Place half of the mozzarella on top of the basil, distributing evenly. Transfer the unbaked pizza directly onto a pizza brick and bake until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the open, drizzle with half of the olive oil and top with four whole leaves of basil. Serve immediately. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make a second pizza.

Makes 2 - 10 to 11-inch pizzas.

What wine would you serve with this Pizza? Take poll to the right. Joanne Weir's Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water (110°F/43°C)
• 2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, combine the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and 1/4 cup flour. Let it stand for 30 minutes. Add the remaining 13/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water, olive oil, and salt. Mix the dough thoroughly and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth, elastic, and a bit tacky to the touch, 7 to 8 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and turn to cover with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (about 75°f/24°c) until it doubles in volume, 1 to 11/2 hours. Or, let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, let it come to room temperature and proceed with the recipe.

Prepared Pizza Dough

We have use several pizza doughs from stores and we like these in this order

• Whole Foods
• Costeaux French Bakery & Cafe - Healdsburg (for $7 you get a pack of 3 pizza balls)
• Mollie Stone's
• Trader Joe's

Joanne Weir's Cookbooks