Pizza Margherita
Campania · pizza · serves 4 · 1500 min total · hard
Made for Queen Margherita in 1889 by Raffaele Esposito at Pizzeria Brandi — tomato, mozzarella, basil for the red, white, and green of the new Italian flag.
Ingredients
- 600 g Caputo '00' Pizzeria flour
- 390 ml cold water (65% hydration)
- 18 g fine sea salt
- 1 g fresh yeast
- 400 g San Marzano DOP tomatoes
- 300 g mozzarella di bufala (or fior di latte for less moisture)
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt for tomatoes
Method
- Dissolve yeast in water. Combine with flour in a bowl. Rest 20 minutes (autolyse).
- Add salt. Knead 10 minutes until smooth and silken. Rest 30 minutes covered.
- Bulk ferment at room temperature 2 hours, then refrigerate covered 24–48 hours. Long cold ferment is where the flavour lives.
- Divide into 4 balls (about 250 g each). Rest at room temperature 2 hours before baking.
- Crush tomatoes by hand. Season with salt only. Tear mozzarella, drain on paper towels.
- Heat oven and pizza steel as hot as it will go (250–300°C / 480–570°F) for 45 minutes. Set broiler on for the last 10.
- On a floured surface, push each ball from the centre outward, then stretch over knuckles. Never roll. The cornicione (puffy edge) must stay untouched.
- Top sparingly: 3 tbsp tomato, scattered mozzarella, basil leaves, drizzle of olive oil. Less is more.
- Launch onto the steel via a wooden peel. Bake 4–6 minutes until the crust is leopard-spotted and the cheese pools and just colours.
- Eat in the next 90 seconds. Pizza margherita does not wait.