No.19 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Pizza margherita

Made famous by Ken Forkish

Photo: Mario56, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From The Elements of Pizza, 2016.

Pizza is the most eaten dish on earth, and the margherita, born in Naples, is its purest form. Forkish's home-oven method gets the closest to a pizzeria.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in The Elements of Pizza.

Ingredients

• For the dough: 500 g (about 3 3/4 cups) Italian 00 flour or all-purpose flour
• 350 g (1 1/2 cups) water at 90 to 95F
• 14 g (2 1/4 tsp) fine salt
• 1 g (1/4 tsp) instant yeast
• For the sauce: one 28-oz (800 g) can whole peeled tomatoes (San Marzano), drained
• 1 tsp fine salt
• For topping each pizza: 3 oz (85 g) fresh mozzarella, torn and drained on paper towels; 4 to 5 basil leaves; 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; a little grated Parmigiano (optional)

Steps

1. Mix the flour and 325 g of the water by hand in a large tub until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 20 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the salt and yeast over the dough, add the remaining 25 g water, and pinch and fold with a wet hand until fully mixed, about 2 minutes.
3. Cover and leave at room temperature 2 hours, folding the dough over itself 4 times in the first hour (once every 15 minutes).
4. Cut into three equal pieces (about 285 g), shape each into a tight ball, put them in oiled containers and refrigerate 24 to 48 hours.
5. One hour before baking, take the dough out and let it come to room temperature. Put a baking steel or stone on a rack 8 inches below the broiler and heat the oven to its highest setting (500 to 550F) for a full 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Crush the drained tomatoes by hand with the salt into a rough purée.
7. Flour a ball well and press it out from the center with your fingertips, leaving a 1/2-inch rim, then stretch it over your knuckles to 12 inches. Lay it on a floured peel.
8. Spread about 1/3 cup sauce thinly, leaving the rim bare. Scatter the mozzarella and drizzle with half the oil.
9. Slide onto the steel and bake 5 to 7 minutes; for the last 1 to 2 minutes switch to the broiler. It is done when the rim is puffed and blistered with dark spots and the cheese is bubbling.
10. Top with basil, the rest of the oil and Parmigiano. Slice and repeat.

Chef's tips

• A baking steel conducts heat faster than a stone and gives a better bottom crust.
• Fresh mozzarella is wet; draining it keeps the center from going soggy.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish: get the book, No. 61 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

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