Caprese Pizza

Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough , Thin Crust Pizza Dough, or Pizza Oven Dough recipes to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F or preheat your pizza oven.

Make the pizza sauce: Make the Homemade Pizza Sauce . (You’ll use about ⅓ cup for the pizza; reserve the remaining sauce and refrigerate for up to 1 week.)

Bake the pizza: When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet, but a pizza peel is well worth the investment!)

Stretch the dough into a circle, then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel.

Spread a thin layer of the pizza sauce over the dough.

Add the shredded mozzarella cheese and grate on the fresh mozzarella, then top with a few pinches of kosher salt .

Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes in the oven or 1 to 2 minutes in a pizza oven.

Allow the pizza to cool for a minute or two before adding the cherry tomatoes and basil on top (whole leaves, lightly torn, or thinly sliced). Drizzle with balsamic reduction, slice into pieces, and serve immediately.