Another one of my obsessions in life is pizza. A good margherita pizza is like heaven on earth. Just a nice dough, good simple sauce, fresh mozzarella (or buffalo mozzarella) and fresh basil. Mmm. So delicious. I also enjoy grandma pizza, a big fat slice of sicilian pizza and regular ol’ pizza too. I’m a New Yorker, come on, these things are ingrained in us since birth, along with the love of bagels.

What is margherita pizza?

Pizza Margherita is a pizza prepared according to a recipe of the Italian chef Raffaelle Esposito. The pizza was first made in 1899 when Queen Marghereta visited Naples to escape a cholera epidemic in the north of Italy. The ingredients used to make a Margherita pizza, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, imitate the colors of the Italian flag. Queen Marghereta liked the pizza so much that she wrote a thank you letter to Esposito, who decided to name the pizza after the Queen.

I’ve made pizza before at home, a lot. It’s one of my favorite things to make. I’ve shared a few recipes on here and it’s starting to become a phenomenon like my macaroni & cheese obsession. But my whole point of this site is making life easy for busy cooks and bakers, yet making good, delicious food as well. And what’s better than pizza? Everyone likes pizza. It’s simple, doesn’t require a lot of planning, and even if you wanna make a more complex dough you still only have to do it the night before. But you don’t have to make a complex dough. There are tons of easy quick pizza dough recipes out there. Some of which you don’t even need to use a mixer for (this makes Lola sad, however). So in this post, I’ll show you a quick margherita pizza, and one with mushrooms as well, and I’ll also give you a recipe for another favorite pizza around here: carbonara. There are no pictures of that, as I didn’t make it this time, but I think you’ll get the idea.

Regular margherita pie in all it’s glory

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QUICK & EASY PIZZA DOUGH

Ingredients:

• 1 packet (¼ oz.) active dry rapid-rise yeast
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 ¼ cups lukewarm water (105 to 115° F)
• 1 ½ tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• cornmeal, for sprinkling

Preparation:

1. Mix ½ of flour with yeast, salt, water with honey dissolved in it, and olive oil.
2. Beat with electric mixer for 3 minutes. Mix in remaining flour (dough should only be slightly sticky). Knead 5 minutes on a floured surface until smooth.
3. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 10 minutes in a warm place.
4. Punch dough down and divide in half. Punch down dough thoroughly and spread/stretch dough portion by hand and roller on a greased pizza pan. Move dough crust to pizza peel spread with coarse cornmeal or to pizza screen. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake in preheated 500° F oven directly on the pizza stone for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 2-3 minutes on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

This particular dough recipe requires both a mixer and a pizza stone. If you have neither, then try this recipe. If you’re looking for other pizza dough options, check the ‘pizza’ category. Usually, most recipes can be divided to make more than one, stretched thin to make thin crust, or used to make a thick crust, depending on your preference. Remember that some recipes rise more when cooking too, so go a bit thinner than you normally would if you like a super thin crust. This dough has a bit of a sweeter taste background because of the honey. If that doesn’t appeal to you, one of my other three dough recipes should. I personally prefer these two recipes to this one, but it’s good to try new things. I will say this: if the concept of honey in your pizza dough does not appeal to you, choose another recipe. If you’re open to trying it, then go right ahead. If it’s your first time making pizza at home, definitely use this recipe instead.

I topped it with my homemade sauce, fresh mozzarella (you know, those little balls? Not the shredded stuff in the bag or the block of Polly-O, although if you can’t get fresh then you can most certainly use that) and a basil leaf cut in a chiffonade (I’ll explain how to do that below) and on the other pie I put sliced white button mushrooms. As far as the fresh mozzarella, if you don’t have an Italian deli near you or can’t afford the higher priced fresh ones, BelGioioso now makes fresh mozzarella, it’s in the regular mozzarella section of supermarkets. It’s in a ball shape, and there’s also a larger one that comes in a sort of rounded tube.

Margherita with mushroom… up close & personal

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If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, here’s a recipe for making an easy carbonara pizza, thanks to Rachael Ray. Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale (pig’s cheeks), eggs, and parmesan. This recipe makes it a bit more appetizing by using pancetta, which is Italian bacon without the smoky flavor regular bacon has, ricotta cheese as well as pecorino romano, and it involves provolone cheese as well. Just follow the dough instructions above, or whatever dough creation/preparation you like, and use this as the topping.

CARBONARA PIZZA

Ingredients:

• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• ¼ pound pancetta, chopped
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup grated pecorino romano cheese
• 2 large egg yolks, beaten
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• Pepper
• 1 ½ to 2 cups shredded provolone cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (a generous handful)