Homemade Margherita pizza with a chewy, blistered crust, San Marzano-style tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil, baked in a home oven.
About this Italian recipe
The Margherita is the signature pizza of Naples, topped in the colours of the Italian flag: red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil. A very hot oven and a preheated stone or steel help a home oven get close to a wood-fired result.
Ingredients you will need
The main ingredients are tipo 00 flour, lukewarm water, instant dried yeast, fine sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, canned whole peeled tomatoes. Exact quantities are in the recipe card below.
How long it takes
Allow 2 hr 40 min in total: 30 min of preparation, 10 min of cooking and 2 hr of resting, chilling or soaking. The recipe serves 4.
Neapolitan Margherita Pizza
Homemade Margherita pizza with a chewy, blistered crust, San Marzano-style tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil, baked in a home oven.
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the flour and yeast in a large bowl, add the water and stir to a shaggy dough. Rest for 10 minutes.
- Add the salt and olive oil and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until doubled. Divide into 4 balls and rest for 20 minutes.
- Heat the oven to its highest setting (250–280°C) with a pizza stone or upturned baking tray inside for 45 minutes.
- Crush the tomatoes by hand with a pinch of salt. Do not cook the sauce.
- Stretch one dough ball to a 28 cm round, leaving the edge thicker. Spread with a thin layer of tomato and scatter over a quarter of the mozzarella.
- Slide onto the hot stone and bake for 7–10 minutes until the crust is puffed and spotted brown. Finish with basil and a drizzle of oil. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Notes
Drain the mozzarella on kitchen paper for 30 minutes before baking so the pizza does not turn soggy.
