Margarita Pizza {with homemade semolina crust}

Pizza my heart! There is nothing better than homemade pizza, and I’ve got the perfect recipe for you. My husband makes his special dough early in the morning, lets it rise twice and the outcome is an incredible ball of soft, elastic goodness! This dough is the base for our fabulous Margarita Pizza, and when baked, the flavor that burst in your mouth is pure heaven! Who can resist freshly made dough topped with simple and fresh ingredients? Well, not me! Mind you, even though the process takes most of the day – due to the dough needing to rise two times, it really is simple to make and well worth the wait. After eating this pizza, you’ll never want to call for take out or delivery again!

I am not the expert here, you see I have never made the crust myself. It’s my better half that works his magic. The secret ingredient he claims is the semolina flour. It makes the dough silky soft. I’m the one who prepares the all the toppings; crush the garlic, slice the tomatoes, chiffonade the basil, and of course slice all of the wonderful cheeses. He rolls out the crust, and I assemble the rest and bake it in the oven. Great team work in my opinion!

Margarita Pizza {with homemade semolina crust}

For the dough:
(recipe adapted from The Red Grape Restaurant, Sonoma, CA)
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1-3/4 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semolina flour
4-5 cups unbleached flour
Cornmeal

In a large bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, add the dry yeast and 1/4 cup of warm water along with the sugar. Mix on low-speed until just combined. Let the yeast proof in the bowl– this will take about 10 minutes or until you begin to see bubbles. At that time, add the salt and the 1-3/4 cups of warm water and mix on low-speed until just combined.

Remove the whisk attachment and add the dough hook. On low-speed, add the semolina flour, when combined, add the unbleached flour, 1 cup at a time until all the four is used, or until the dough is soft and forms a ball. This is where crust making is a talent. When you are adding the flour, keep note of how many cups you add. As you get to about cup 3, you will then every so slowly add the 4th and 5th cups. Sometimes you do not need to add the 5th cup, it really all depends on how the flour comes together with the other ingredients. Knead the dough on low-speed until it is no longer sticky (about 8 minutes). Then continue kneading at low-speed for another 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Remove dough from hook and shape into a ball and place on a lightly floured cookie sheet. Cover with a warm damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 4 hours. Punch the dough down and divide into 6 equal balls. Cover dough balls with a warm damp kitchen towel and them rise for another 2 to 3 hours.

Approximately 1 hour before you are going to start baking your pizza, place pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven and turn oven on to 500 degrees. This way your oven and stone will be nice and hot for baking!

When ready to cook the pizza, on a floured surface, roll out one ball of dough out into a thin 10-inch crust. Sprinkle cornmeal on a baker’s peel. Place the dough on cornmeal and shake gently to make sure the dough moves freely.

For the topping (note, all ingredient amounts are to your liking):
Olive Oil
Garlic, crushed and chopped
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Asiago Cheese, thinly sliced
Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
Fresh Basil, cut into a Chiffonade
Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Spread the olive oil to cover the crust and sprinkle with garlic. Arrange the mozzarella evenly over the crust. Top with the sliced Asiago cheese. Arrange the tomatoes. Now since it’s your pizza here, you can put as much or little of the cheese and tomatoes as you like.

Transfer the pizza onto the baking stone in your oven and cook until the crust edges are slightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with basil and Parmesan cheese. Slice and serve at once.

For us, once this Margarita Pizza comes out of the oven, it barely makes it to a plate! We really just eat it right off of the cutting board! Now that’s amore!