Naples gave the world pizza, and the Margherita is the version Neapolitans measure every pizzeria by: a thin, soft center, a puffed and freckled rim called the cornicione, raw tomatoes crushed by hand, mozzarella, a few basil leaves and a thread of olive oil. The popular story says a pizzaiolo named it for Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889, with toppings in the red, white and green of the new national flag. Historians point out that nobody wrote the story down at the time and that it was mostly told from the 1930s onward, which has never stopped a single Neapolitan from telling it.

The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which guards the craft, asks for a wood fired oven at around 450°C (850°F) and a bake of 60 to 90 seconds. A home oven cannot do that, so this recipe borrows three tricks: a slow dough with very little yeast, a heavy pan or stone heated for the better part of an hour, and the broiler to finish. The result will not fool a pizzaiolo from the Via dei Tribunali, but it will silence a living room.

On Monza weekend, with the tifosi filling the Temple of Speed in red, this is the flag on a plate. Make the dough the day before and every pizza takes under ten minutes, which fits neatly between qualifying runs.

The dough

Ingredients

• 4 cups (500 g) 00 pizza flour
• 1 1/3 cups (320 ml) cool water
• 2 teaspoons (12 g) fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) instant dry yeast

Method

1. Pour the water into the large bowl and stir in the yeast with your fingers until no specks remain. Add about half the flour and stir with a spoon or your hand until it looks like thick pancake batter.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the batter, then add the rest of the flour a handful at a time, mixing with one hand and turning the bowl with the other. When it becomes a shaggy mass, tip it onto the counter.
3. Knead for 10 minutes: push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, fold it back over itself, turn it a quarter turn and repeat. Resist adding much flour; it will stop sticking as you work. Cover with the upturned bowl and let it relax for 15 minutes, then knead for 1 minute more.
4. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces of about 7 1/2 oz (210 g). For each, fold the edges into the middle like a purse, turn it seam side down and roll it in a circle under your cupped palm on the counter until the top is taut and smooth.
5. Set the balls 2 inches (5 cm) apart in a lightly floured container or tray and cover it tightly. Either leave them on the counter in a cool room for 8 to 12 hours, or refrigerate them for 24 to 48 hours. If chilled, take them out 2 hours before baking so they come back to room temperature.

The tomato and toppings

Ingredients

• 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) whole peeled plum tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 9 oz (250 g) fresh mozzarella
• 1 small bunch fresh basil
• 4 tablespoons (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Tip the tomatoes into the sieve set over a bowl and let the thin juice drain for 5 minutes; keep the juice for another dish. Put the tomatoes in the medium bowl and squeeze them through your fingers until broken into small, rough pieces. Stir in the salt. Do not cook this sauce; it cooks on the pizza.
2. Tear the mozzarella into pieces about the size of a thumbnail and spread them on paper towels. Leave them for 30 minutes, pressing with more paper towels halfway through.

Shaping and baking

Ingredients

• about 1/4 cup (40 g) semolina or flour

Method

1. Place the steel, stone or upturned skillet on a rack in the upper third of the oven, about 6 inches (15 cm) below the broiler. Heat the oven to its highest setting, usually 500°F to 550°F (260°C to 290°C), for 45 minutes.
2. Dust the counter and a dough ball generously with flour. Press the center flat with your fingertips, working outward but leaving a 3/4 inch (2 cm) border untouched; that border becomes the rim. Lift the dough onto the backs of your fists and gently stretch it, turning it as you go, until it is about 10 inches (25 cm) across. Never use a rolling pin, which squeezes out the air.
3. Dust the peel with semolina and lay the dough on it. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of tomato over the center and spread it in a spiral with the back of the spoon, stopping at the rim. Scatter a quarter of the mozzarella, add 3 or 4 basil leaves and drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a spiral. Give the peel a little shake.
4. Open the oven, set the tip of the peel at the back of the stone and pull the peel out sharply so the pizza lands on the stone. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, then switch to the broiler on high for 1 to 3 minutes, watching closely and turning the pizza with tongs once if one side is darker.
5. Slide the peel under the pizza and move it to the cutting board. Add a couple of fresh basil leaves and a few drops of oil, cut into quarters and serve at once. Switch the oven back from broil to bake and let the stone reheat for 5 minutes before the next pizza.

More from Italy