Campania · Napoli
Pizza napoletana Margherita
Neapolitan pizza Margherita
The only pizza with an EU specification: a soft disc with a raised rim, easily folded in four, topped with tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil.
- Course
- Pizza e panePizza & bread
- Serves
- 14
- Hands-on
- 23 min
- Cooking
- 1 h 31 min
- Resting
- 6 h+
La provenienza
Where this recipe comes from
‘Pizza Napoletana’ is registered by the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG). The specification fixes almost everything: the flour, the dough and its two rises, shaping by hand only, the toppings and their weights, and baking in a wood-fired oven at about 485 °C for 60–90 seconds. The finished pizza is no more than 35 cm across, 0.4 cm thick in the centre, with a 1–2 cm rim, and soft enough to fold in four.
The specification allows two toppings. The Marinara has tomato, salt, oregano, a sliced clove of garlic and olive oil, and no cheese. The Margherita, given here, has tomato, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO or Mozzarella TSG, fresh basil and olive oil.
In 2017 UNESCO inscribed the art of the Neapolitan ‘pizzaiuolo’ on its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
- Provenance
- EU-codifiedThe dish itself is protected by an EU specification (TSG, PDO or PGI) that fixes how it is made.
- Defined by
- European Union
- Reference
- Traditional Speciality Guaranteed ‘Pizza Napoletana’ — Commission Regulation (EU) No 97/2010, 2010
Ingredienti
Ingredients
For the dough (about 14 balls)
For each Margherita · doesn't change with servings
Equipment
- Kitchen scale accurate to 1 g, and a smaller one accurate to 0.1 g for the yeast
- Stand mixer with a dough hook (the specification's ‘dough kneader’), or strong hands
- Thermometer for the water and the dough
- Covered food containers for the dough balls, and a dough scraper
- Wooden or aluminium peel to load the pizza, and a small metal peel to turn it
- Wood-fired oven reaching about 485 °C — or, at home, a pizza steel and the hottest oven you have (see the tips)
- Oil dispenser with a spout, for the thin spiral of oil
Preparazione
Method
Start about 8 hours before you want to eat: 30 minutes of mixing and kneading, a 2-hour first rise, shaping the balls, then 4–6 hours of second rise. Each pizza then takes about two minutes to shape and top, and 60–90 seconds to bake in a wood-fired oven.
- 23 minhands-on
- 1 h 31 mincooking
- 6 hresting, at least
The dough
These are the specification's own quantities: 1 litre of water for 1.8 kg of flour, about 14 dough balls. Use the servings control to scale them down.
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Official textHands-on 2 min
Pour the water into the mixer bowl and dissolve the salt in it (50–55 g per litre). Use water at about 20 °C so that the dough ends up at about 25 °C, the fermentation temperature the specification asks for.
Tip On a hot day use cooler water, on a cold day warmer: what matters is the dough's temperature after kneading.
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Official textHands-on 2 min
Add 10% of the flour (about 180 g) and start mixing at low speed, then crumble in the 3 g of fresh brewer's yeast.
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Official textCooking 10 minHeat mixer at low speed
Add the rest of the flour gradually while the mixer runs, until the dough comes together into one mass — the ‘dough point’. This should take about 10 minutes.
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Official textCooking 20 minTemp 25 °CHeat mixer at low speed
Knead at low speed, preferably with the dough hook, for 20 minutes until you have a single, compact, smooth mass.
Check The dough is soft and elastic and does not stick to your fingers. Its temperature is about 25 °C.
The two rises
-
Official textRest 2 hTemp 25 °C
Turn the dough out onto the work surface, cover it with a damp cloth so no crust forms, and leave it for 2 hours at room temperature.
-
Official textHands-on 15 min
With a scraper, cut off portions of dough and shape them by hand into smooth, tight balls of 180–250 g each — about 14 from the full quantity. Put them in the containers, spaced apart, and cover.
Tip Weigh each ball: equal balls bake evenly, and 200 g gives a pizza of about 30 cm.
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Official textRest 4–6 h
Leave the balls to rise in the closed containers at room temperature for 4–6 hours. Once risen, use them within the following 6 hours.
Check The balls have grown visibly in volume and look soft and slightly domed; a finger pressed in leaves a dent that slowly fills back.
Shaping and topping (one pizza at a time)
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Official textCooking 1 hTemp 485 °C
Have the wood-fired oven at about 485 °C on the floor and 430 °C under the dome before you shape the first pizza.
Tip At home, put a pizza steel on the top shelf and heat the oven to its maximum (usually 250 °C–300 °C) for 45–60 minutes. The result is very good, but by definition it is not ‘Pizza Napoletana TSG’.
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Official textHands-on 1 min
Lift a ball out with the scraper onto a lightly floured surface. Press it from the centre outwards with the fingers of both hands, turning it over several times, pushing the air towards the edge. Finish by stretching it between your hands. The disc should be no more than 35 cm across, about 0.4 cm thick in the centre and 1 cm–2 cm at the rim.
Check A raised, puffy rim all round, and a thin, even centre with no holes.
Tip Never use a rolling pin or a press: the specification forbids them, because they squeeze the air out of the rim.
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Official textHands-on 1 min
Spoon 60–80 g of crushed peeled tomatoes onto the centre and spread them over the whole surface inside the rim with a spiral movement of the spoon. Sprinkle the salt over the tomato with the same spiral movement.
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Official textHands-on 1 min
Lay 80–100 g of sliced Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO or Mozzarella TSG over the tomato and add a few fresh basil leaves. Finish with 4–5 g of extra virgin olive oil — about a teaspoon — in a spiral from the centre outwards.
Tip Slice the mozzarella and leave it to drain in a sieve for an hour first, so it does not flood the pizza.
Baking
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Official textHands-on 1 min
Dust the peel with a little flour, slide it under the pizza with a turning movement, and slide the pizza onto the oven floor with a quick flick of the wrist so the topping stays in place.
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Official textCooking 1–1.5 minTemp 485 °C
Bake the pizza for 60–90 seconds. Lift its edge with the metal peel and turn it towards the fire so it bakes evenly all round, always returning it to the same area of the floor so the base does not burn.
Check The rim is puffed and golden with darker spots; the tomato has lost only its excess water and stays compact; the mozzarella has melted; the basil is fragrant, not burnt. Inside, the dough reaches 60 °C–65 °C and the mozzarella 65 °C–70 °C.
Tip On a home pizza steel under the grill, allow about 4–6 minutes.
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Official text
Lift the pizza onto the plate with the metal peel and eat it straight away, where it was made.
Check The finished pizza is soft and elastic enough to fold in four.
The essentials, for cooks who know the dish. Switch to Detailed for quantities, temperatures, times and checks at every step.
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Errori comuni
Common mistakes
- Using a rolling pin or a press — the specification forbids them: they push the air out of the rim, so it never rises.
- Overloading it. The specification weighs the toppings: 60–80 g of tomato and 80–100 g of mozzarella per pizza.
- Pouring on the oil: the specification asks for 4–5 g, about a teaspoon.
- Leaving the balls to rise overnight in a cool room. The specification's second rise is 4–6 hours at room temperature, with the dough used within 6 hours.
Fuori dall'Italia
Cooking it outside Italy
- A home oven reaches about 250–300 °C, not 485 °C, so pizza made at home cannot be called ‘Pizza Napoletana TSG’. To get closest, bake on a preheated pizza steel at the top of the oven, under the grill.
- Mozzarella TSG is a protected traditional cow's-milk mozzarella; outside Italy, choose Italian buffalo mozzarella labelled ‘Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO’, and drain it well before slicing.