Recipe
Margherita pizza.
Tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil on a same-day dough. The bake is written for a home oven at 550°F, not for a wood-fired oven.
A Margherita pizza recipe is a short shopping list and a hot oven. The dough here is one ball, about 421 grams, at roughly 65 percent hydration. It is ready in an afternoon. If you want the 24-hour ferment and the stricter topping style associated with Neapolitan pizza, use the Neapolitan guide instead of stretching this same-day dough and calling it the same thing.
The sauce is the uncooked crush from the sauce guide, scaled down so the whole batch goes on this pizza. There is no leftover sauce to reconcile with a different salt level.
Recipe
One 12-inch Margherita pizza with a same-day 00-flour dough, uncooked tomato sauce, and fresh mozzarella.
Dough
- 250 g 00 flour labeled for pizza, or bread flour
- 163 g water, cool
- 6 g fine sea salt
- 2 g instant yeast
Topping
- 150 g whole peeled tomatoes, hand crushed, juices included
- 2 g fine sea salt
- 4 g extra-virgin olive oil, for the sauce
- 100 g fresh mozzarella, drained and patted dry
- 6 leaves fresh basil, added after baking
- 8 g extra-virgin olive oil, to finish
Equipment
- Digital scale
- Baking steel or stone
- Peel or parchment paper
Method
- Stir 6 g fine sea salt and 2 g instant yeast into 250 g flour. Add 163 g cool water and mix until no dry flour remains.
- Cover 20 minutes. Fold the dough from all four sides once. Shape it into a ball and cover it for 90 minutes at about 70 to 75°F (21 to 24°C).
- While the dough rests, crush 150 g tomatoes and stir in 2 g salt and 4 g olive oil. Tear 100 g mozzarella into pieces and pat them dry.
- Forty-five minutes before baking, heat a baking steel at 550°F (288°C), or at the oven’s maximum if that is lower. Heat a stone for 60 minutes.
- Shape the dough to about 12 inches on a lightly floured peel or on parchment. Spread the sauce, then the cheese. Leave the basil off for now.
- Bake about 8 minutes on the steel. On parchment, bake 4 minutes, remove the parchment, and bake about 4 minutes more. Add 6 leaves and 8 g olive oil after the pizza comes out. Rest 2 minutes before slicing.
Why the cheese is dried and the basil waits
Fresh mozzarella carries a lot of whey. If it goes on wet, that water boils on top of the sauce and the center stays pale. Tear it, press it in a towel or a sieve while the dough rests, and use the 100 grams that remain, not 100 grams plus the liquid you squeezed out.
Basil blackens in a hot oven. Adding the 6 leaves after the bake keeps them green. The 8 grams of finishing oil goes on then, too, so it stays fragrant instead of baking into the cheese.
The 8-minute bake assumes a steel that has been hot for 45 minutes at 550°F (288°C). A stone, heated for 60 minutes, often needs closer to 10 minutes. Start checking at 8 either way. If your oven’s maximum is 500°F (260°C), use the timing in the questions below rather than pretending the dial says 550.
Storage and reheating
U.S. food-safety guidance is to refrigerate perishable cooked pizza, sauce, and cheese within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the room is warmer than 90°F (32°C). Reheat leftovers until they reach 165°F (74°C). Raw flour is not a ready-to-eat food, so do not taste unbaked dough. Leftover slices keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. Reheat them in a skillet or a 375°F (190°C) oven until they reach 165°F (74°C). The crust will not return to the texture it had at the eight-minute mark.
Common questions
Why is there oil in this dough when classic Neapolitan dough has none?
This Margherita dough has no oil. The oil in the ingredient list is for the sauce and the finish. The longer, leaner dough used for the Neapolitan page is a separate formula with a 24-hour cold ferment.
What if the oven only reaches 500°F?
Bake at 500°F (260°C). Start checking at 8 minutes and allow up to 12 minutes. The rim will be paler than it would be at 550°F. Do not broil the pizza for the whole bake, or the top will color before the center is done. A final 60 to 90 seconds under the broiler is enough if the top is still pale after 8 minutes.
Can I use shredded low-moisture mozzarella?
You can, but it is a different pizza. Use 100 g, and expect more browning and less milky moisture. Pat fresh mozzarella dry so the water in the cheese does not puddle on the sauce.