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 mixing bowl, a medium saucepan, and a food processor.
STEP TWO – Make the Dough
Ingredients:
¾ cup lukewarm water
1 packet dry active yeast
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions:
- In the large mixing 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 and elastic, 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
¼ cup minced onion
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 minced garlic cloves
1 15-ounce can tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes seeded and cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 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 and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Add the vinegar and honey and stir to incorporate.
- Puree the sauce in the food processor to a smooth consistency and set aside.
STEP FOUR – Bake the Pizza
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
- Place a kitchen towel under the pizza pan to prevent sliding, 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 from the pan to a large cutting board, cut into 8 slices with a pizza cutter, and serve hot.
Recommended Serving Size: 2 slices
Exchanges: 2 starch, 2 protein, 1 veg, 1 fat
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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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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