This is the most classic pizza you can ever get in the world. It is the recipe for the first ever pizza that was made for a Royal in Naples. The dough came from somewhere tracing back to Ancient Roman times as we all know bread has been a food staple for thousands of years. This recipe was developed after tasting endless versions of the classic American plain pizza, Brooklyn Pizza (the first brick oven pizza joint in America), traveling through Italy on a pizza food crawl and the best I had was obviously in the Neopolitan area. I tasted buffalo cheese pizza and it cost a whopping 5 Euros. I’m being so sarcstic. The truffled pizza in Salerno rivaled that version- but nothing compares to the pizza found in Naples and the seafood savored in the Amalfi Coast.
I originally developed this recipe for Mealthy.com a few years ago. It’s so popular, the recipe has remained on their home page ever since the launch of the site! Thanks Mealthy!
Here’s the Margherita recipe I developed, wrote, styled, and photographed.
Margherita Pizza
Try this modern take on the classic Neapolitan favorite. It is traditionally made with marinara sauce, and this one uses fresh tomatoes in it’s place.
Basic Pizza Dough
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Margherita Pizza
1 pizza dough recipe
8 ounces Mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 cups Cherry tomatoes, sliced
handful fresh basil leaves
Combine lukewarm water and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil, process until the dough forms a sticky ball. Knead with your hands for about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and transfer to a bowl covered with olive oil.
Split pizza dough in half.
Using a small 9” pizza pan, spread about a tablespoon of olive oil to coat the pan. Form a ball with one half of the dough and spread out using your fingers. You will push the dough with your fingers until it reaches the end of the pan. If you are using a sheet tray, do not divide the dough in half. Spread the dough into a rectangle shape.
Add mozzarella cheese. Spread it evenly.
Place the Cherry tomatoes over the mozzarella cheese. Cover as much of the cheese as you can. When the tomatoes cook in the oven, they will melt into the cheese.
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place pizza in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown color.
Remove from oven, garnish with fresh Basil leaves and slice the pizza into eight pieces using a pizza slicer or a sharp knife.
You can always purchase pizza dough at your local super market or make it ahead of time and freeze it to save your time.