Pizza Margherita Recipe (2024)

I'm always a bit confused abut the term fresh mozzarella. Is this the buffala type sold in water (sometimes also sold as fiore di latte, not buffal but less expensive) or like boccancini? Or the firmer type sold in plastic?

DO NOT shy away from making the dough recommended here (Roberta's). Do not give in to the temptation to use store-bought dough. I've made this pizza with both, and the difference between the two can be measured in light years. Make it. You can do it. It's not hard. And it is A-MAY-ZING.

I followed this recipe to the letter, and I have to tell you, it was pretty bland. If you really want to do pizza sauce the right way, you must add oregano -- along with chopped onions and garlic. Otherwise, the sauce has no kick at all.

I have had great success using a bit of corn meal on the peel. It acts like little ball bearings, and adds to the flavor.

I use parchment paper to transport the pizza to the oven. After about 30 seconds, you can easily pull the parchment paper out from under the dough and allow the crust to crisp directly on the pizza stone.

For those of you saying the sauce is bland it really isn't for those of us who lived in Naples. They cook it just like this and it's delicious. You can add your spices and all you're doing is americanizing it. I use San Marzano tomatoes, put them through a mill to remove the seeds and just bake it on the pie. The best pizza is the one where the taste of tomatoes linger on your palate insead of confusing it with so many different tastes.

Since home ovens don't get hot enough, precook your crust on the stone for about 8-10 minutes before adding sauce and cheese. This will eliminate the chance of a soggy or underdone crust.Preheat for 30 minutes, you don't need an hour.Use whole, canned San Marzano tomatoes and crush them by hand.True "fresh" mozzarella floating in water is too bland and doesn't melt properly. Use the packaged fresh whole milk style in "balls" or "logs".

So, I have yet to perfect the technique of sliding the pie off the peeler onto the stone. This caused some off the topping to spill onto the stone which, of course, started to smoke as the pizza was cooking, setting off my fire alarm and scaring the poop out of my poor dog. Otherwise, the pizza was delicious.

I sprinkle a piece of Reynolds non-stick aluminum foil with cornmeal and form the pizza on the foil. Then I place the foil on the pizza peel. The foil holding the pizza slips easily onto the stone. The presence of the foil does not impair the effect of the stone-baking.

Use Cento San Marzano canned tomatoes. I found them at walmart and Publix supermarket which are just regular chain supermarkets. Use a mill to get the seeds out ,the result will be pure sauce minus the seeds. I add just a little salt no oil. I lived in Naples Italy for three years so I adopted the Neapolitan way of doing this. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the dough, put the sauce, mozarella, and basil as directed and sprinkle again with parmesan.

Definitely refrigerate the dough for 24 hrs to develop the taste, light texture, and bubbly crust. My grandma used to add 1 clove of slightly crushed garlic to her sauce to infuse the garlic flavor without overpowering the sauce, giving it a more savory flavor. I agree with others who commented that the sauce needs this addition of garlic and 4-5 tablespoons on each pizza.

I wouldn't put the basil on until after the pizza cooks. I think its better when it's fresh and unburnt. Otherwise, the recipe sounds delish!

1. Make sure dough is properly hydrated...just dry enough to keep from sticking to hands and countertop. This is particularly important in a home oven where a maximum 550 degree temp means a longer bake time than in a high-temp commercial oven.2. When stretching the dough, DO NOT FIGHT IT. I cannot stress this enough. If it does not stretch very easily, cover it and come back to it. You can proof in oven for a short while just before working. A warmer dough will be easier to work.

We tried the recipe for the first time today. Pretty good but still needs tuning to be perfect.After cooking it, we though the crust was to hard/tough on edges.My question is: is this due to the flour since only used multipurpose, lack of kneading the dough, oven temperature (being too long inside it dehydrates) or dough needs more hydration?Any suggestions? Thank you!

Why doesn’t this recipe say what temperature to preheat the oven to?! Seems like a basic instruction is missing.

Ordinary home ovens do not heat to much more than 500 degrees, and CANNOT cook this pizza in 4-6 minutes. A pizza steel will help, and either that or a pizza stone, is a necessity. Put the stone 6 inches from the top element of the oven. Heat to temp for >30 minutes. Prior to placing the pizza on the stone or steel, turn on the broiler element and allow to heat fully. Leave the broiler on for the first 4-6 minutes, then return to baking at 500 degees or more. Monitor to avoid scortching.

Our solution to burnt/dried basil is to toss the basil with olive oil, which we prefer to adding fresh basil after cooking.

I didn’t find the sauce to be bland — it was actually really wonderful, very bright and fresh. I put cento san marzano whole peeled tomatoes through a food mill, then added salt and olive oil to taste. I also threw in two crushed garlic cloves and let it all sit in the fridge for a few hours.If you’re using a pizza stone like I did, definitely let the crust cook for a few minutes and then apply the toppings. Otherwise the cheese cooks too much or you have underdone crust.

After reading many of the comments I decided to use parchment paper!! What a mistake. It started clean to the crust like 100 yr old wallpaper. We could not eat the pizza at all.

Who's bright idea was it to use wet/fresh/buffalo mozzarella on a pizza? Firstl, I learned while in Naples that pizza was invented to use up old dried up mozzarella that's sat in the frig too long. Secondly, the "wet" mozzarella leaves the pie soggy with the large slices of cheese prone to slip off the slice and onto your plate, if you're lucky or if not on to your lap if not. Store bought low moisture mozzarella from the deli case works far better.

Important to NOT keep tomato sauce in fridge for weeks! Someone I know didn’t realize this and ended up with Botulism poisoning. Freeze it instead.

If lucky enough to have an outdoor grill, use it. Heat it up, put the dough on the racks naked and cook for about 3 mins, then turn over for 2 mins. Remove from heat it will be firm and not sticky at all. Top as you like and return to the heat for 5 to 9 mins depending on the grill. Best pizza ever.

Always use fresh mozzarella in water. In America it can be hard to find buffalo milk mozzarella but cow's milk is fine so long as it is fresh and in water. In fact, here in Italy the cow's milk version ("fior di latte") is the norm in most neighborhood pizzerias; pizzas with buffalo milk cheese are usually a separate menu item and cost a few more euros per pizza.

Chiffonade the basil and sprinkle it on top after you pull your pizza from the oven.

I made this twice so far and both turned out good but I was unhappy with the crispness of the dough, which is my ovens fault. So next time I will be taking the advice of other commenters and cooking my dough for a few minutes before adding the toppings

Put on parchment, remove paper after 30 secs then Pre bake 3 minsThen cook 5 mins

I am surprised to see how few people know the “trick” of putting parchment paper under the dough. It slides on and off the pizza peel very easily. Then the pie slides easily off it onto the cutting/serving board. It only chars a small bit in a hot oven and leaves no residue.

A little chiffonade basil on the bottom, oh la la! Uncharred basil on top.

The basil tends to burn when cooked this way. It's better to put the basil on top of the dough first. The tomato sauce and cheese covering the basil will help in preventing it from burning.I suggest using lots of basil, and cutting it into slivers (chiffonade).