Margherita Pizza With Hanover Tomatoes

Photo: fraichement

Ingredients

--Dough--

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey

of salt

--Marinara--

2 Hanover tomatoes, diced and unseeded

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 pinch a good of salt

--Topping--

2 cups (do not pack) fresh mozzarella, pulled

handful of fresh basil

Preparation

For the dough, combine all the ingredients into a large glass mixing bowl. Transfer the dough onto a well-floured work surface, and knead for two minutes. The dough should still be slightly tacky, but not sticky. Coat the dough with olive oil, place it back into the glass mixing bowl (that you have rinsed and dried), cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 4 hours.

For the marinara, place all the ingredients into a pan. Turn on the heat to medium and cook for 4-5 minutes. Taste to ensure that the marinara is well salted. Stir the marinara, then turn the heat to high. You will notice the marinara becoming more loose due to the moisture of the tomatoes being cooked out. You want to keep the heat on high for another 5 minutes to reduce down the hydration and add a lot more flavor. Turn off the heat and let the marinara rest a good several minutes. Make sure that the marinara is well salted.

Preheat the oven to 500ºF.

Once the dough is done rising, transfer it onto a very well-floured surface. Add a scant handful of flour on top of the dough, and begin working the dough out with the palms of your hands. Begin rolling the dough out with your rolling pin. Flip once to ensure that the dough has not stuck to your surface. Stretch/roll the dough to roughly 16-17 inches in all directions. You may need to trim the edges of the dough if you have stretched too much.

The trick now is to transfer the thin dough onto the pizza pan. This is actually not difficult if you’re dough is well coated with flour. (Make sure you are wearing an apron or clothes you don’t mind getting flour on). Balance the pizza pan between your body and the edge of the counter. Swiftly pull the dough onto the pizza pan then immediately place the pizza pan onto your work surface.

Add the marinara and the mozzarella. Since the excess dough will be folding over and onto the pizza pan, you want to push the marinara and mozzarella all the way to the edges of the pan. With your handful of basil, roughly tear it apart and distribute it over the pizza. Fold the remaining dough over the pizza. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.