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.

Why it works the kitchen science

Step by step

1. 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.

2. Step 2

   Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at cool room temperature (65°F to 75°F) for 12 to 16 hours.

3. Step 3

   Divide the dough into 4 pieces of about 230 g, shape each into a tight ball and set them in a lightly floured covered tray. Rest 1 hour.

4. 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 1/2 tsp salt. Slice the mozzarella and drain it on paper towels 15 minutes.

5. Step 5

   Press one ball from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving a 3/4-inch rim untouched, then stretch it to about 10 inches. No rolling pin. Lay it on a semolina-dusted peel.

6. Step 6

   Spread a quarter of the tomatoes in a spiral, leaving the rim bare. Add a quarter of the mozzarella and 4 basil leaves (tuck a couple under the cheese so they don't burn), then spiral 1/2 tbsp olive oil from the center out.

7. Step 7

   Slide the pizza onto the steel and bake 6 minutes (7 minutes on a stone). Switch to the broiler and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the rim is puffed and spotted with char. Let the steel reheat 5 minutes in bake mode before the next pizza.

8. Step 8

   Serve each pizza whole, right away, with a knife and fork.

Tips

• In Naples the oven does this in 60 to 90 seconds at around 905°F. At home, expect 8 to 10 minutes and a paler, crisper base.
• Drain the mozzarella well. Wet cheese floods the center, which is already only about 1/8 inch thick.
• King Arthur adds 1/2 tsp sugar to help a home oven brown the crust. If your oven tops out at 500°F, you can add it; the AVPN would not.

The rules people argue about

What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.

• No rolling pin. Documented: both the EU specification and the AVPN ban rolling pins and mechanical presses. Rocco's 1850s text says pizza makers once used a rolling pin too, so the rule is newer than the pizza.
• Wood-fired oven only. Disputed: the EU specification says wood only; the AVPN's 2024 rules allow certified gas and electric ovens.
• Buffalo mozzarella vs fior di latte. Disputed: the EU specification names only Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP or Mozzarella STG; the AVPN allows cow's-milk fior di latte.
• San Marzano tomatoes required. Folklore: neither text requires them. The EU says peeled tomatoes and/or small fresh tomatoes; the AVPN lists San Marzano DOP first but allows Italian Roma-type tomatoes.
• No sugar or fat in the dough. Documented (AVPN).
• Grated hard cheese on a Margherita. Disputed: the AVPN allows 5 to 7 g as an option; the EU specification doesn't include it.
• Folded or knife and fork. Documented both ways: at the table it is eaten whole with a knife and fork; on the street a smaller pizza is folded in four "a portafoglio" (La Cucina Italiana). The EU text says the pizza must fold into four.
• Named for Queen Margherita in 1889. Disputed: the EU text and the AVPN repeat the story that Raffaele Esposito made it for the queen in the colors of the flag. Historian Zachary Nowak argues the thank-you letter at Pizzeria Brandi is not in the palace archives and that the legend was built in the 1930s ("Folklore, Fakelore, History", Food, Culture & Society, 2014; BBC Food, 2012). Wikipedia says the story and name were promoted in the 1930s and 1940s.
• Dates in the EU text itself. Disputed: the regulation dates the Margherita to 1796 to 1810 and cites no source for it.