This Margherita pizza dish tastes like an Italian artisanal pie! It is the ideal combination of tomato sauce, cheese, and crust.
The ultimate pizza pie, in our opinion? The pure and basic pizza Margherita. This classic Italian pizza is absolutely exceptional, with its stretchy mozzarella cheese, acidic tomatoes, and peppery basil on a chewy, charred dough.
We’re so enamored of it, in fact, that we’ve spent years refining how to create it at home: researching real Italian pizza-making techniques, interviewing pizza experts, and even flying to Naples, Italy, to sample it for ourselves! The following are the keys to preparing the best margarita pizza.
What is Margherita pizza?
Where did this popular pizza topping originate? The pizza Margherita, created in the 1800s, features the colors of the Italian flag: red tomato sauce, white mozzarella, and green basil. It is claimed that the Margherita was named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, an Italian queen from the late 18th century.
How to pronounce Margherita pizza? That sounds like the traditional Mexican drink, the margarita, which is a typical misspelling of this term! With an authentic Italian accent, the phrase is pronounced pit-za mar-geh-REE-ta.
Tools for homemade Margherita pizza
Is it easy to prepare Margherita pizza? With a few tools and hints, yes. To achieve a real Italian crust that is crisp on the outside, it must be baked at a very high temperature. The vital? A flaming hot pizza stone. Here are the items you’ll need to produce a genuinely fantastic pie:
Pizza stone: This is what gives the crust its crisp exterior and soft interior. Here is the recommended pizza stone, along with care instructions.
Pizza peel: A peel is a paddle used to transfer a pie onto a heated baking stone. We suggest using either this normal pizza peel or this pizza conveyor peel. The conveyor makes it quite simple to slide onto the stone (it’s an investment worth making!).
Pizza oven (optional): Do you need a pizza oven to make superb margherita pizza? not even close! But if you truly want to elevate your game, you should know that artisan pizza is cooked at temperatures much higher than a normal oven can achieve. The Ooni pizza oven we use is relatively inexpensive and heats to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit in a short amount of time.
How to make pizza dough
Excellent margherita pizza requires excellent dough. During the past decade, we have been developing our recipe at A Couple Cooks. Our dough formula contains advice from some of America’s most celebrated pizza chefs, who themselves have studied pizza in Naples. Here’s what you should know:
For the next-level dough, use Tipo 00 flour. The finest flour is Tipo 00, which is utilized by Neapolitan pizza establishments. It produces a lovely, flexible, and airy dough. Our Tipo 00 flour is purchased online. Also effective is all-purpose flour, so it is not required!
Use a great pizza dough recipe! This Master Recipe: Pizza Dough is the greatest way for making pizza dough in the artisanal style. It can be prepared with a stand mixer or by hand. Alternatively, you can try Simple Thin Crust Pizza, which is comparable but rolled out with a rolling pin.
Margherita pizza ingredients
What’s on a margherita pizza? The customary toppings for a margherita pizza in Italy are mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and basil. The sauce is often prepared using crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt, and herbs. Mozzarella di bufala, a fresh cheese derived from the milk of water buffaloes that has a creamy texture and delicate flavor, is frequently used.
While the toppings for handmade margherita pizza are so simple, they must be of the highest quality. Here is what you will require:
Tomatoes: Our margherita pizza sauce is created in a blender with fire-roasted canned tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, and herbs. Fire-roasted tomatoes have a sweet, smokey flavor and are widely available in grocery shops around the United States. San Marzano tomatoes are a further excellent option. If neither is available, use the highest-quality canned tomatoes you can locate.
Cheese: The best mozzarella for pizza? Take fresh mozzarella cheese, offered in balls, and chop it into little pieces to cover the entire surface. A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese gratings adds richness.
Basil: Fresh basil is essential to the flavor of a delicious margherita pizza. A tip? Add after baking so that the pizza remains attractively green. Within minutes, fresh basil that has been roasted in the oven becomes black.
It takes some effort, but you’ll soon be able to make homemade margherita pizza! You can also apply your knowledge to our other favorite pizza recipes. Share your thoughts on this Italian icon: this is the best pizza you can prepare at home.
Ingredients
For the pizza dough
- 1 ball of Best Pizza Dough (or Food Processor Dough or Thin Crust Dough)
- Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
For the pizza sauce
- 1 small garlic clove (1/2 medium)
- 15 ounces crushed fire-roasted tomatoes or San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Scant ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the toppings
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pizza sauce
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese or 2 to 3 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese, for topping
- Fresh basil leaves, for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the pizza dough by following the instructions for Best Pizza Dough. This requires approximately 15 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to rest.
- Put a pizza stone in the oven and warm it to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Alternatively, heat your pizza oven (here is our pizza oven). Prepare pizza sauce by Chopping the garlic cloves into chunks. In a blender, combine the garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, and kosher salt. Mix until thoroughly mixed. (You’ll use approximately a third of a cup for the pizza; refrigerate the remaining sauce for up to one week.)
- Prepare the cheese by slicing fresh mozzarella cheese into 14-inch thick slices if using it (see the photos of the pre-baked pizza above). If the fresh mozzarella is extremely watery (brands differ), you may need to sit on a paper towel for 15 minutes to absorb excess moisture and then dab it to remove any remaining water. When the oven is ready, sprinkle cornmeal or semolina flour on the pizza peel.
- If you do not have a pizza peel, you can use the back of a rimmed baking sheet or a rimless baking sheet. But, a pizza peel is a worthy investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see How to Stretch Pizza Dough for directions. Then, arrange the dough carefully on the pizza peel. Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pizza sauce into a thin layer over the dough. Add the mozzarella cheese.
- Add a thin layer of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a couple of pinches of kosher salt to the top of the pasta. Use the pizza peel to transfer the pizza to the hot pizza stone with care. Bake the pizza for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the cheese and dough are well browned (or 1 minute in a pizza oven).
- Let the pizza cool for a minute or two before topping it with basil (whole leaves, lightly torn, or thinly sliced). Immediately slice into pieces and serve.
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