In 1889, the story goes, pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito served Queen Margherita a pie the colors of the Italian flag: red tomato, white mozzarella, green basil. Naples had already been eating tomato pizza in the streets. The queen just put a name on the one everybody still orders.
Cook it hot and fast. The rim should leopard. The center should still slump. If you can eat it without a slight burn on the roof of your mouth, the oven was shy.
Ingredients
Pick one dough — homemade or a store-bought ball.
Homemade dough
- 500 g Tipo 00 flour
- 325 ml water
- 13 g salt
- 1 g instant yeast (long ferment) or 3 g (same day)
Premade dough
- 1 ball store-bought pizza dough (250–280 g), room temperature 1 hour
Sauce and toppings
- Crushed San Marzano tomatoes, salted
- Fresh mozzarella, torn and drained
- Basil
- Olive oil
Products & ingredients
What this pie actually wants. Flour, tomatoes, cheese, and tools — Amazon links, so this blog can keep going.
Store-Bought Pizza DoughCheck Amazon.comPremade Dough
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Low-Moisture MozzarellaCheck Amazon.comToppings
Ooni Koda 16 Pizza OvenCheck Amazon.comPizza Oven
Ooni Pizza Oven GlovesCheck Amazon.comHeat Gloves
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Ateco Bench ScraperCheck Amazon.comBench Scraper
Check Amazon.com
As an Amazon Associate, The Slice Guy earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and stock live on Amazon.
Nutrition
If you buy the kit on this page
- Serving
- 1/4 pizza
- Calories
- 250
- Protein
- 11 g
- Carbohydrates
- 33 g
- Fat
- 7 g
- Sodium
- 600 mg
Pack labels of those brands (or USDA where a brand does not print a panel), times the grams in this recipe. Drain the mozzarella, swap a tin, or skip the oil and they move.
Labels used: Caputo Pizzeria 00, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, Cento San Marzano tomatoes, Low-moisture mozzarella, Partanna extra-virgin olive oil.
How to make and cook it
Bought dough? Skip “Make the dough.” Let the ball sit out 1 hour, then start at “Cook the pie.”
Make the base
- 01Stir 500 g Tipo 00 flour with 325 ml water.
- 02Rest 30 minutes.
- 03Add 13 g salt and 1 g instant yeast.
- 04Knead until silky, about 8 minutes.
- 05Ball.
- 06Refrigerate 24 hours, then 2 hours at room temperature.
Or use premade dough
- 01Let a store-bought ball sit out for 1 hour until it is relaxed.
- 02Flour the bench.
- 03Stretch it to size — from here it is the same as homemade.
Add sauce and toppings
- 01Stretch gently — pinch the rim, do not flatten it.
- 02Thin crushed San Marzanos, drained mozzarella, a thread of oil.
Cook
Oven
- 01Heat a steel on the top rack at 290°C (550°F) for 45 minutes.
- 02Launch.
- 03Bake 4–6 minutes until the cornicione spots and the center still slumps.
- 04A home oven will not leopard like Naples.
- 05It will still be dinner.
- 06Basil after the bake.
Gas pizza oven
- 01Preheat a gas pizza oven 20 minutes on high, stone about 425–455°C (800–850°F).
- 02Launch. 60–90 seconds, turning often.
- 03Pull when the rim leopards and the cheese just melts.
- 04Basil after the fire.
Wood-fired oven
- 01Floor at 425–480°C (800–900°F).
- 02A real Neapolitan bake.
- 03Launch. 60–90 seconds.
- 04Turn once or twice.
- 05The center should slump.
- 06Basil after.
- 07Eat immediately.
