In honor of National Pizza Day, we’re reposting the very first recipe we uploaded to Nourish: cheese pizza. Back in July when this family favorite comfort food went live, we had 0 followers. 7 months later, we’re going strong with over 700! We can’t thank you enough for your continued support and hope you enjoy this delicious dish as much as we do!
STEP ONE – Preparations
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Lightly spray a 14-inch diameter pizza pan with canola spray.
- Get out a large bowl, a medium saucepan, and a food processor.
STEP TWO – Make the Dough
Ingredients:
¾ cup lukewarm water
1 packet dry active yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions:
- In the large bowl, pour the water over the yeast and whisk until fully dissolved.
- Add the salt and sugar, then the flour, and whisk to combine.
- Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth, adding more flour as needed.
- Lightly spray the bowl with canola spray and return the dough to the bowl.
- Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes while you make the sauce.
STEP THREE – Make the Marinara Sauce
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ small peeled and minced onion
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 peeled and minced garlic cloves
1 15-ounce can tomatoes or 4 large seeded and diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 fresh chopped basil leaves
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Instructions:
- In the medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.
- Add the onion, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and basil.
- Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Add the vinegar and honey and stir to incorporate.
- Puree in the food processor and set aside.
STEP FOUR – Assemble and Bake
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
- Place a kitchen towel under the pizza pan, then place the dough in the center and use your fingers to press to the edges.
- Spread the sauce across the entire surface of the dough.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce.
- Add your choice of toppings or keep plain.
- Bake for 18 minutes until the crust and cheese are lightly browned.
- Transfer the pizza to a large cutting board and cut into 8 slices with a pizza cutter.
- Serve hot.
Recommended Serving Size: 2 slices
Exchanges: 2 starch, 2 protein, 1 veg, 1 fat
Nourish 
I’ll bet the vinegar and honey give the sauce a real umami taste. Wonderful!
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Thank you! Both ingredients are very recent additions to our marinara sauce recipe, and it makes it so much more flavorful!
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Good recipe. Almost perfect: just one thing is not correct. Pizza was created in Naples to honor the visit of the first Queen of Italy, whose name was Margherita (and that is why Pizza should only be Margherita – everything else is not the original). Pizza was created to honor the colours of the Italian flag: Mozzarella cheese (for white), Tomato sauce (for the red) and Basil leaves (for the green). Therefore there is no garlic. This is the story but obviously you like it with garlic…just add it. 🙂
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That’s a neat origin story; thank you for sharing! We had no idea pizza was created to honor the Italian flag but that makes a lot of sense! We apologize that our recipe isn’t 100% authentic to the original —we just really like flavoring dishes with garlic 😂
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Wait. The Margherita Pizza was not the first pizza. It was made to honor the queen with the colors of the flag represented, but there’s a reason it’s called The Margherita Pizza and not Pizza. The word pizza has been traced back to the 10th century and flat breads resembling what we would call pizza now go back even further.
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This looks fantastic! I have never been good at making dough but am up for trying to veganize this recipe because the crust looks so perfect! It could be an epic fail but where there’s a will, there’s a way!
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There’s definitely a way! Let us know how it turns out! I’m moving towards a more plant-based diet anyway so I’d love a good vegan pizza dough recipe!
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Thanks a lot for this recipe. I bet it is good and I love pizza Sooo much
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You’re welcome! As pizza lovers ourselves, we assure you it’s very good!
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The pizza looks PERFECT! I can’t stress that. My mouth is watering, the recipe must be great!
I would like to suggest you make corn dogs, since I really like them and might find the recipe useful. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you so much! This is hands-down one of our favorite recipes so we’re so glad you like it!
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I never knew there was a day dedicated solely for pizzas! I have been craving cheese pizza since the last few days. I will be following this recipe and shall be treating myself today!
#MyWordsKraft
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Haha there’s a day dedicated to just about everything, it seems! We hope you enjoy the recipe!
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