Pizza Marinara
Naples' other classic, and the older idea: tomato, sliced garlic, oregano and olive oil on a soft, charred crust. No cheese, and no seafood either.
The marinara is one of the two pizzas in the EU's Pizza Napoletana specification, and it has no cheese at all: tomato, garlic, oregano and extra-virgin olive oil. It is close to the most ordinary pizza that Emmanuele Rocco described in Naples in the 1850s: oil, salt, oregano and minced garlic, often with small fish added (De Bourcard, "Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni"). The name comes from "marinaro", to do with sailors. Today's version has no seafood in either the EU or the AVPN rules.
Why it works the kitchen science
Garlic on top, not in a sauce
Thin slices toast in the heat and soften into the tomato instead of turning bitter.
No cheese means no water
The tomato reduces right on the dough, so the thin center stays soft but not soggy.
Step by step
- Step 1
Stir the salt into the water until it dissolves. Add about a tenth of the flour and the yeast, then the rest of the flour a handful at a time, and knead 10 minutes by hand, until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Step 2
Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at cool room temperature (65°F to 75°F) for 12 to 16 hours.
- Step 3
Divide the dough into 4 pieces of about 230 g, shape into tight balls and rest them, covered, 1 hour.
- Step 4
Meanwhile put a baking steel or stone on the center rack, at least 8 inches below the broiler, and heat the oven to its highest setting (500°F to 550°F) for 45 minutes. Crush the tomatoes by hand with the salt.
- Step 5
Press one ball from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving a 3/4-inch rim, and stretch it to about 10 inches. Lay it on a semolina-dusted peel.
- Step 6
Spread a quarter of the tomatoes in a spiral, scatter a quarter of the garlic, pinch over 1/2 tsp oregano and spiral 1/2 tbsp oil from the center out.
- Step 7
Slide the pizza onto the steel and bake 6 minutes (7 minutes on a stone), then broil 2 to 3 minutes, until the rim is charred in spots and the garlic is just golden. Reheat the steel 5 minutes before the next pizza.
- Step 8
Add a couple of basil leaves if you like and serve right away.
Pizza Marinara
Serves 4 (1 pizza each) · 4 pizzas, about 10 inches each · 14 hr 10 min total
Dough
- 4 3/4 cups (560 g) Italian "00" pizza flour (or all-purpose flour)
- About 1 1/2 cups (340 g) lukewarm water, about 105°F
- 1 tbsp (17 g) fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast
- Semolina or flour, for the peel
Topping
- 1 can (14 oz) whole peeled tomatoes plus a few from a second can (about 1 1/3 cups, 320 g, after crushing)
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, for the tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tsp dried oregano (Italian or Greek)
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- Optional: a few basil leaves
Method
- Stir the salt into the water until it dissolves. Add about a tenth of the flour and the yeast, then the rest of the flour a handful at a time, and knead 10 minutes by hand, until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at cool room temperature (65°F to 75°F) for 12 to 16 hours.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces of about 230 g, shape into tight balls and rest them, covered, 1 hour.
- Meanwhile put a baking steel or stone on the center rack, at least 8 inches below the broiler, and heat the oven to its highest setting (500°F to 550°F) for 45 minutes. Crush the tomatoes by hand with the salt.
- Press one ball from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving a 3/4-inch rim, and stretch it to about 10 inches. Lay it on a semolina-dusted peel.
- Spread a quarter of the tomatoes in a spiral, scatter a quarter of the garlic, pinch over 1/2 tsp oregano and spiral 1/2 tbsp oil from the center out.
- Slide the pizza onto the steel and bake 6 minutes (7 minutes on a stone), then broil 2 to 3 minutes, until the rim is charred in spots and the garlic is just golden. Reheat the steel 5 minutes before the next pizza.
- Add a couple of basil leaves if you like and serve right away.
Built from the EU TSG specification's Marinara and the AVPN 2024 regulations: per pizza about 80 g tomato, 1 garlic clove (about 3 g), 0.5 g oregano and 6 to 8 g oil (the AVPN range; the EU range is 4 to 5 g). Dough and home-oven method as in our Pizza Napoletana Margherita recipe, adapted from King Arthur Baking. publications.europa.eu. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Slice the garlic as thin as you can. Thick slices stay raw in a short bake.
- Rub the dried oregano between your fingers over the pizza to wake it up.
- "Marinara" in Naples is this pizza, not a jar of red sauce or anything with shellfish.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- No cheese. Documented (EU specification; AVPN).
- No seafood. Documented for today's pizza (EU; AVPN). Rocco's 1850s description shows small fish were often added to the plain garlic and oil pizza, so the "no fish" rule is modern.
- Basil on a Marinara. Disputed: the AVPN says a few basil leaves "may be appreciated"; the EU specification has none.
- Named for sailors or fishermen who ate it at sea. Folklore: the word means "sailor-style", but the sailor story rests on oral tradition, not documents.
- Created in 1734. Disputed: the EU regulation states 1734 but gives no source, and the same regulation's other early dates don't hold up (it credits a treatise to Vincenzo Corrado for 1715 to 1725, but Corrado was born in 1736).
- First pizzeria. Disputed: Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba is "widely believed" to be the first. The AVPN says it was an oven selling flatbreads to street vendors from 1738 and became a sit-down pizzeria in 1830. We found no independent archive source for either date.
Every other pizza
Pizza Napoletana Margherita
The Naples original: a soft, hand-stretched dough with a puffy, charred rim, topped with hand-crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil, and nothing else.
Sfincione (Palermo-Style Sicilian Pizza)
Palermo's tall, spongy pan pizza: cheese and anchovies pressed into the dough, a sweet onion and tomato sauce on top, and a crunchy blanket of oregano and toasted breadcrumbs.
Roman Pizza al Taglio with Potato and Rosemary
Rome's sheet-pan pizza by the slice: a very wet dough, cold-risen for a day, baked airy and crisp, topped with paper-thin potatoes, rosemary and olive oil, and cut into rectangles with scissors.
New York-Style Pizza
The big, thin, foldable slice: a cold-fermented bread-flour dough with a little sugar and oil, a smooth cooked tomato sauce and grated low-moisture mozzarella, baked hot and long until the cheese spots brown.
Grandma Pizza
Long Island's thin square pan pie: an oiled sheet-pan crust, mozzarella first, then raw tomatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil and oregano spooned on top.
New Haven White Clam Pizza
New Haven's famous "apizza": a thin, charred crust with olive oil, garlic, oregano, grated Pecorino Romano and fresh littleneck clams, and no mozzarella.
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
A tall, flaky, buttery crust baked in a round pan, filled with a thick layer of mozzarella and topped with a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan. Eat it with a knife and fork.
Chicago Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza
Chicago's everyday pizza: a cracker-thin crust, a sweet herby sauce to the very edge, fennel-flecked sausage and mozzarella to the rim, cut into little squares.
Detroit-Style Pizza
A thick, airy rectangle baked in a well-oiled steel pan, with pepperoni under Wisconsin brick cheese spread to the very edge so it fries into a dark, crispy crown, and sauce spooned on top in stripes.
St. Louis-Style Pizza
A cracker-thin crust rolled out with a pin, a sweet oregano sauce, toppings to the edge and gooey, smoky Provel cheese, cut into squares.
California-Style BBQ Chicken Pizza
The pizza that told America anything goes: barbecue sauce instead of tomato, smoky gouda and mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onion and fresh cilantro.
Weeknight Skillet Pizza
Store-bought dough crisped in a skillet on the stove, then finished under the broiler: a crackly-bottomed cheese pizza in about 35 minutes, no stone and no preheating.
Pan Pizza, Inspired by Pizza Hut
Inspired by Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza, not an official recipe: a thick, no-knead dough that rises in an oiled cast-iron skillet and bakes with a golden, almost fried bottom and cheese right to the edge.
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