Pizza with mozzarella and tomatoes
Description
If you travel to Italy, stop by some remote village or provincial town, and enter an ordinary pizzeria that hasn't been adapted to tourists' tastes, you'll likely be surprised: the menu offers very few pizza varieties. But this isn't because they don't know how to make pizza—it's quite the opposite. According to the canons of Italian cuisine, pizza shouldn't include anything beyond a few key ingredients, among which are mozzarella cheese and high-quality tomatoes. In fact, to make a truly excellent pizza, you won't need any other toppings. Sounds interesting? Then here's how to make pizza with mozzarella and tomatoes: 1. Sift flour into a large bowl. 2. Dissolve yeast in 100 ml of warm water, pour the diluted yeast into the flour, then add salt and olive oil. 3. Add the remaining water and knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes. 4. Shape the dough into a ball and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour if you used active yeast, or 2–3 hours if using regular yeast. 5. Once the dough has risen, divide it in half and roll each half into a 25 cm (approximately) diameter round. 7. Preheat the oven to 220–230°C. 8. Add the toppings in the following order: tomato sauce, thinly sliced tomatoes, grated mozzarella. Optionally, sprinkle with your favorite spices on top. 9. Place in the oven and bake for 18–20 minutes. That's it—your mozzarella and tomato pizza is ready. Serve immediately. The baked pizza is done. Serve at once.