Authentic Italian pizza Margherita

I made pizza again today. Today’s recipe shows you how to make one really, really quickly. I’ve tested it more than once. Unfortunately, this is already the second time this week. Unfortunately because it’s hardly diet food. It’s properly Italian, and I’ll admit I haven’t a clue how they manage to stay so slim.

Why do I recommend this pizza? Because you can make it faster than you can get one delivered from a pizzeria. Any pizzeria. Go on, get the stopwatch out and race them. I promise you’ll win, and your pizza will taste a whole lot better.

It takes exactly 25 minutes. I’m making a margherita here, but pretty much anything you fancy putting on top will work. Do it your way. The base is thin, typically Italian, perfect.

There’s just one more thing. I didn’t have much time to make Ninka a late lunch that would double as dinner. And since it was for Ninka… well, now you know why I went for the simplest possible pizza, with practically nothing but mozzarella on it. I also decided to make the sauce much milder than usual. She always complains that there’s too much tomato sauce and that sometimes it’s too spicy. In fact, when I make it for her, salt and sugar are pretty much all I season it with.

But sometimes tomato paste or passata does have a certain “bite”, or rather an intensity of flavour, all of its own. So today I “softened” the sauce with a spoonful of sour cream. It makes it very mild. Perfect for a child. I recommend it.

I’d be tearing my hair out if I didn’t tell you about my latest discovery before I finish. A complete fluke. It does have a little to do with what I’ve been up to on YouTube lately. I was browsing recipe videos when I stumbled on something that won me over. I’ll say it straight out: it’s the best cooking channel on YouTube.

And these aren’t celebrity chefs’ videos. Although who knows, maybe they’re celebrities by now. Check out the channel called “kuchnia u anny”. That sound:

Hey, mambo! Mambo italiano!
Hey, mambo! Mambo italiano
Go, go, go you mixed up sicialiano

Wonderful. And of course there’s “Cześć Polska” (“Hello, Poland”). Anna and her mysterious assistant are my current YouTube idols.

Seriously. They’ve got that certain something 🙂

Their pizza margherita recipe inspired me to drizzle a little olive oil over my pizza before baking it. See for yourselves:

At a glance: 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Oven temperature: 220 degrees Celsius

Baking time: 15 minutes

Serves: two or three

Calories: heh heh, none at all

Ingredients for a quick no-rise pizza:

• 180 grams Italian pizza flour with yeast (about a glassful, or use flour and about 4 grams of dried yeast)
• half a glass of water
• two tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• one small jar of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon thick sour cream, 18% fat
• a ball of mozzarella

How to make a mild Italian pizza that’s vegetarian to boot:

 First I made the dough. In a deep bowl I used a spoon to mix the flour, two pinches of salt, two teaspoons of sugar, the water and the olive oil. Then I got my hands in there and started kneading briskly. The dough should be smooth and elastic.

Knead the dough by pressing it firmly against the worktop. It takes about 5–7 minutes. When mine was ready, I popped it in a bowl, pricked it with a fork, covered it with a tea towel and left it somewhere warm for literally 3 minutes. Meanwhile I made the world’s quickest sauce.

I emptied a small jar of tomato paste into a mug. I added two teaspoons of sugar and two pinches of salt. I stirred it, then added about 1/3 of a glass of water (boiled and cooled). I mixed it well and added a tablespoon of 18% sour cream. Another stir. The sauce should be a lovely pinkish colour.

Once the sauce was ready, I took the dough out of the bowl and shaped it on the worktop into a fairly thin round (about 3–4 millimetres thick). I mostly used my hands, with a little help from a small rolling pin. This no-rise dough is a bit stiffer, hence the rolling pin.

I transferred the dough to a baking tray greased with olive oil. I poured the sauce on and spread it evenly. The outer 1–2 cm should not be covered with dough. I arranged the mozzarella, cut into strips, on top. Just before baking, I gave the pizza another light drizzle of olive oil. Into the oven it went, preheated (it absolutely must be preheated) to 220 degrees Celsius. I baked it for about 12–14 minutes. All done. Enjoy!

PS

I was making half the pizza for Ninka, so one half was exactly as in the recipe. On the other half I added a few slices of smoked bacon. That bit was for me. That’s why the photos show half a margherita and half a bacon pizza.