Neapolitan-Style Pizza Margherita

Why it is made this way

Neapolitan pizza is one of the few dishes with an official standard. Since 2009 “Pizza Napoletana” has held Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status in the European Union, and in 2017 UNESCO inscribed the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) sets the rules: dough made only from flour, water, salt and yeast, stretched by hand without a rolling pin, and baked for 60–90 seconds at 430–485 °C. Legend has it that in 1889 pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito baked a pizza for Queen Margherita of Savoy in the colours of the Italian flag — tomato, mozzarella and basil.

A home oven cannot reach 450 °C, so we carry over the logic of the standard rather than its numbers: the hottest possible surface underneath, a short bake, and dough that has gained flavour through time rather than a large amount of yeast.

Three principles behind a restaurant-quality result

1. Long cold fermentation. Just 1.5 g of dry yeast for 600 g of flour and 24–72 hours in the fridge. During that time enzymes break starch down into sugars and partly break down proteins: the dough becomes extensible, the rim bubbly with a slightly sweet, nutty taste, and the crust browns well even with no sugar in the recipe.

2. 65% hydration. 390 g of water to 600 g of flour is the sweet spot for a home oven: wet enough to produce steam and an open crumb, yet manageable enough to stretch by hand.

3. The tomato is not cooked. The sauce is simply crushed canned tomatoes with salt. It finishes cooking in the oven and keeps a fresh acidity that balances the richness of the cheese. A long-simmered pizzeria sauce with sugar and garlic belongs to a different tradition.

Cheese and basil

Fior di latte or whole-milk mozzarella works best. The key is removing excess moisture: cut the cheese 30–60 minutes before baking and leave it in a sieve or on paper towels, otherwise the centre of the pizza turns watery. Basil goes on twice: a couple of leaves before baking to perfume the oil and cheese, and fresh leaves right after so they stay bright green.

How to get a leopard-spotted crust at home

You need a surface that stores heat: a pizza steel (the best option), a stone, or a heavy baking tray turned upside down. Preheat it for at least 45 minutes at maximum temperature. If your oven has a top grill, switch it on for the last 1–2 minutes — the closest thing to the dome of a wood-fired oven.

Common mistakes

• A rolling pin. It presses the gas out of the rim; stretch the dough with your fingers from the centre outwards.
• Too much topping. 90–100 g of sauce and 100 g of cheese per 250 g of dough is the limit, or the centre will not bake through.
• Cold dough. Dough balls need 2–3 hours at room temperature before stretching.
• Low-protein flour. Use flour with at least 11–12% protein; Italian “00” pizza flour is ideal, but good bread flour also works.

Serving and storage

Serve immediately, cut into 6 slices. Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheat in a dry pan with a lid: the base crisps up again and the steam melts the cheese. Raw dough balls can be frozen for a month and thawed in the fridge overnight.