The dish to eat in Naples · Italy

Pizza margherita

Name: Neapolitan pizza margherita
Yield: 4 pizzas
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: For the dough: 3 1/3 cups (500 g) '00' pizza flour (such as Caputo Pizzeria); 1 1/3 cups (325 ml) cool water; 1/4 tsp (1 g) instant yeast; 2 tsp (14 g) fine sea salt; 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) whole San Marzano tomatoes; Salt; 10 oz (280 g) fior di latte mozzarella, torn and drained on paper towels 30 minutes; A small bunch of fresh basil; Extra-virgin olive oil; Semolina, for the peel

Photo: Robot8A, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · source

Soft, blistered wood-fired pizza with San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, basil and olive oil.

Naples invented pizza, and the margherita is the one by which every pizzaiolo is judged: soft and foldable, charred on the rim, cooked in 90 seconds.

Where to eat it Cook it at home

Where to eat it: the best three in Naples

L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Via Cesare Sersale, Forcella
Order: Margherita (they also do marinara, and nothing else)
Since 1870, just two pizzas and a line around the block.
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Gino e Toto Sorbillo
Via dei Tribunali, Centro Storico
Order: Margherita, then the fried pizza next door
A family of pizzaioli on pizza street, with a light, enormous crust.
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Concettina ai Tre Santi
Rione Sanità
Order: Margherita and the seasonal tasting pizzas
Ciro Oliva's family pizzeria that helped bring the Sanità neighborhood back to life.
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All three are on Chef Amazing’s list The best pizza margherita in Naples, which you can save and take with you.

Cook it at home: Neapolitan pizza margherita

Serves 4 pizzasTime 30 min, plus 24 hr dough

A long cold rise gives flavor; a very hot surface gives the charred, soft crust. Don't use a rolling pin: push the dough out by hand to keep the air in the rim.

Pans and tools

Pizza steel or stone (or a pizza oven)
Pizza peel
Kitchen scale
Container for the dough balls

You’ll need

For the dough: 3 1/3 cups (500 g) '00' pizza flour (such as Caputo Pizzeria)
1 1/3 cups (325 ml) cool water
1/4 tsp (1 g) instant yeast
2 tsp (14 g) fine sea salt
1 can (14 oz / 400 g) whole San Marzano tomatoes
Salt
10 oz (280 g) fior di latte mozzarella, torn and drained on paper towels 30 minutes
A small bunch of fresh basil
Extra-virgin olive oil
Semolina, for the peel

Steps

Mix the flour and yeast, add the water and mix to a shaggy dough. Rest 20 minutes. Add the salt and knead 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Cover and rest 2 hours at room temperature. Divide into 4 balls of about 8 oz (210 g), tucking the dough underneath to make a tight surface. Put in a covered container and refrigerate 24 to 48 hours. Bring out 3 hours before baking.
Put a pizza steel or stone on the top rack, 6 inches below the broiler, and heat the oven to its maximum for 1 hour. (A pizza oven at 850F / 450C is even better.)
Crush the tomatoes by hand with a good pinch of salt. Don't cook them.
Flour a ball well. Press the center with your fingertips, leaving a 3/4-inch rim untouched, and gently stretch over your knuckles to a 10-inch (25 cm) round.
Lay it on a semolina-dusted peel. Spread 3 tbsp tomato in a spiral, leaving the rim bare. Scatter a quarter of the cheese and two or three basil leaves, and drizzle with olive oil.
Slide onto the steel. Bake 2 minutes, then switch the broiler to high and bake 2 to 4 minutes more, until the rim is puffed and blistered with dark spots and the cheese is melted. (In a pizza oven: 60 to 90 seconds, turning.)
Finish with a few fresh basil leaves and olive oil. Eat right away, with a knife and fork as Neapolitans do, or folded.

Chef’s tips

Weighing is what makes pizza dough reliable; cups vary too much.

Wet mozzarella makes soup; drain it well.

A steel gets much hotter than a stone in a home oven and gives a better char.

Contains: Wheat, milk.

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