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Pizza napoletana (Margherita)

Name: Pizza napoletana (Margherita)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 402 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 1 l water; 52 g sea salt; 1800 g soft-wheat flour type 00, strength W 220–380; 3 g fresh brewer's yeast; 840 g peeled tomatoes, crushed; 1080 g Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP or Mozzarella STG, in strips; 1 bunch fresh basil, a few leaves per pizza; 54 g extra virgin olive oil; salt for the tomato

pizza napoletana

The Neapolitan pizza as written in its Traditional Speciality Guaranteed specification: a soft, salted dough of 1.8 kg of flour to a litre of water and only 3 g of yeast, rested for hours, opened by hand, topped with tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil, and baked for 60–90 seconds in a wood-fired oven at about 485 °C.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 12
Preparation: 40 min
Cooking: 2 min
Resting: 6 h
Total: 6 h 42
Difficulty: Involved

Equipment

Mixer, preferably fork type (or a large bowl)
Covered food boxes for the dough balls; damp cloth
Wood-fired pizza oven reaching about 485 °C on the floor; wooden or aluminium peel and a metal turning peel
Oil can with a spout

Servings12

Ingredients

Dough (11–15 balls)
1 lwater
52 gsea saltThe specification allows 50–55 g per litre.
1.8 kgsoft-wheat flour type 00, strength W 220–38010 % of it (180 g) goes in first.
3 gfresh brewer's yeast
Margherita topping (for 12)
840 gpeeled tomatoes, crushed60–80 g per pizza.
1.1 kgMozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP or Mozzarella STG, in strips80–100 g per pizza.
1 bunchfresh basil, a few leaves per pizza
54 gextra virgin olive oil4–5 g per pizza (tolerance +20 %).
salt for the tomato

Shopping list

Method

Pour the water into the mixer and dissolve the salt. Add 10 % of the flour, then crumble in the yeast. Start the mixer and add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough reaches the right consistency (the *punto di pasta*). This should take 10 minutes.
Timer · 10 min10:00
Knead at low speed for 20 minutes, without letting the dough heat up, until it is one compact mass: soft, elastic and not sticky.
Why The specification asks for a flour that absorbs 50–55 % of its weight in water; overheating would speed the yeast and tighten the gluten.
Timer · 20 min20:00
Turn the dough onto the bench, cover with a damp cloth and leave 2 hours.
Why The cloth stops a crust forming as moisture evaporates.
Timer · 2 h120:00
Cut off pieces with a scraper and shape by hand into balls of 180–250 g.
Put the balls in food boxes and leave at room temperature (fermentation about 25 °C) for 4 to 6 hours. Use them within the following 6 hours.
Timer · 5 h300:00
Lift a ball onto a lightly floured bench. Press from the centre outwards with the fingers of both hands, turning it several times, until the centre is no thicker than 0.4 cm and the rim (*cornicione*) is 1–2 cm. Do not use a rolling pin or a press. The finished pizza must not exceed 35 cm.
Why Pressing pushes the gas to the rim, which then puffs in the oven.
Spoon 60–80 g of crushed tomato into the centre and spread it in a spiral. Salt the tomato, lay on 80–100 g of mozzarella strips and a few basil leaves, then pour 4–5 g of oil in a spiral from the centre.
Slide the pizza onto the oven floor with a quick turn of the wrist. Bake 60–90 seconds, lifting an edge with the metal peel and turning the pizza towards the fire so it cooks evenly, always on the same patch of floor.
Why At about 485 °C on the floor and 430 °C under the vault the dough reaches 60–65 °C and the mozzarella melts without separating.
Timer · 2 min2:00
Serve at once. The specification wants it soft and elastic enough to fold in four (*a libretto*).

Substitutions

Pizza marinara (the other specified pizza) → Per pizza: 70–100 g crushed tomatoes, salt, a pinch of oregano, one garlic clove sliced thinly, and 4–5 g extra virgin olive oil. No cheese.
Wood-fired oven → A home oven cannot reach 485 °C. A pizza baked in one can follow the method but is not the TSG product, and the specification gives no times for it.

Common mistakes

Using a rolling pin: it is excluded by the specification and drives the gas out of the rim.
Overloading the centre: the disc is only 4 mm thick there and turns soggy.
Freezing or vacuum-packing baked pizza for sale: the specification forbids it.

Storage & reheating

Eat at once, ideally where it is baked. The specification says Pizza Napoletana TSG may not be frozen, deep-frozen or vacuum-packed for later sale.

Allergens

Gluten · Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian

Two pizzas, written into law

The specification registered for Pizza Napoletana as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed traces it to 1715–1725, citing Vincenzo Corrado, cook to the Prince of Francavilla, who wrote that tomato was used to dress pizza and macaroni in Naples. It dates the marinara to 1734 and the margherita to 1796–1810, and repeats the story that the margherita was offered to the Queen of Italy on her visit to Naples in 1889 because its colours recall the Italian flag.

In May 1984 most of the old Neapolitan pizzaioli signed a short production rule before a Naples notary. The TSG specification, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale in March 2010, is far more exact: it names only two pizzas and fixes every quantity from the litre of water to the grams of oil.

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Little yeast, long rest, fierce heat

Only 3 g of yeast raises 1.8 kg of flour, so the dough relies on time: 2 hours in bulk and 4–6 hours as balls at about 25 °C. The specification even fixes the flour (strength W 220–380, 11–12.5 % protein) and the dough's end density, pH and temperature.

Baking is the other half. The oven floor is about 485 °C and the vault about 430 °C; in 60–90 seconds the tomato loses only its excess water, the cheese melts, and basil, garlic and oregano release their aroma without burning.

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How it connects

Place

origin Naples In preparation