Pizza Margherita

Directions

Place a pizza stone, baking tiles or an inverted baking sheet on the bottom or on the lowest rack of a cold oven; preheat for 30 minutes to 500 degrees F or the highest setting.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and pat into a disk.

Use a rolling pin or your hands to roll or stretch the dough into a circle that is ¼ inch thick and 10 to 12 inches in diameter.

Tranfer to a semolina or cornmeal dusted pizza peel or inverted baking sheet.

Brush the dough with a little of the olive oil to the edge.

Spread tomato sauce over the dough to within ½ inch of the edge.

Distribute mozzarella slices over the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange basil leaves over the mozzarella, reserving a few for garnish if you wish.

Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Carefully slide the pizza onto the heated pizza stone and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the bottom is crisp and browned and the top is bubbling.

Garnish with the reserved basil leaves, if desired.