Caprese Pizza
A fresh and flavorful caprese pizza inspired by the classic Italian combo of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Make it when you’re craving a unique spin on a margherita or cheese pizza!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 ounces cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 425 grams pizza dough
- 3 ounces basil pesto
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella sliced
- Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- First, roast the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, whole, to a small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, then roast under the broiler on low (~425 degrees F) until blistered and lightly charred, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Switch the broiler off and preheat the oven to 525 degrees F. Oil and flour a 14-inch pizza pan, then flour your hands and stretch the dough into a roughly 12 to 14 inch circle to fit the pan.
- Now, top the pizza. Spread the pesto evenly over the dough, leaving about a quarter inch crust around the edges. Top with sliced mozzarella.Gently smush the tomatoes with the back of a spoon to release some of their juices, then top the pizza with them, making sure to get some of the juices onto the pizza (but not all - see Notes section for details).Finish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly, about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!
Notes
Pizza dough: We like to make pizza dough from scratch using recipes from Marc Vetri's Mastering Pizza cookbook and Ken Forkish’s Flour Water Salt Yeast cookbook. But you can also use store bought!
Pizza pan: If you don't own a round pizza pan, we can recommend this 14" round pizza pan from Wilton. It's budget-friendly and crisps up the pizza nicely without sticking.
Roasted tomatoes: Make sure to gently smush the tomatoes before they go on the pizza, and leave some of the juices off the pizza so it doesn't become too wet. Excess juice on top of the pizza will burn off as it bakes.
Baking tips: In general, bake pizza in the middle of your oven (move your oven racks if needed) to ensure even cooking. If you are baking two pizzas at once on separate racks, space the racks evenly in the oven and just switch the pizzas about halfway through. Pizza can also be finicky and cooks at different rates depending on the hydration level of your dough, your oven's actual temperature, and other factors. We recommend keeping an eye on your pizza as it cooks and using visual cues to tell when it's done - use our time estimates as a rough guide.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 891mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 657IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 216mg | Iron: 2mg
