Perfect Pizza (Margherita)

#pizza #dough #margherita #italian #scaling

Gennaro Contaldo's classic margherita — dough for 4 pizzas, topped with tomato, mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil.

👥 4 servings 🍽️ main ⏱️ Prep Time: 30 minutes 🔥 Cook Time: 10 minutes 🌍 Italian 👤 Gennaro Contaldo (Food Tube) 📖 https://youtu.be/1-SJGQ2HLp8

🥘 Ingredients

Dough

  • strong bread flour
    500 g
  • salt
    1 tsp
  • dried yeast (1 sachet)
    7 g
  • warm water
    325 ml
  • semolina (or breadcrumbs if you don't have semolina)

Shape & Top

  • salt
  • passata (or crushed tomatoes flavored with garlic; or @./basics/Pizza Sauce{} — don't overload)
    1 c
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • Parmesan cheese
  • mozzarella (~50 g per pizza)
    200 g
  • fresh basil

Bake

  • semolina

🍳 Cookware

  • bowl
  • oven
  • pizza stone
  • pizza peel

Dough

  1. 1
    In a bowl , mix strong bread flour with salt first (keep salt from sitting directly on the yeast). Add dried yeast and warm water . Mix with a spoon, then knead by hand — pull and fold until smooth.
    strong bread flour: 500 g, salt: 1 tsp, dried yeast: 7 g (1 sachet), warm water: 325 ml
  2. 2
    Dust with a little flour, divide into 4 balls (about 150 g each). Dust a tray with semolina , set the dough balls on it, dust the tops with flour, cover with a damp cloth, and proof for at least ⏱️ 2 hours until roughly doubled.
    semolina (or breadcrumbs if you don't have semolina)

Shape & Top

  1. 1
    Press each ball from the center outward with your fingers, leaving a thicker rim (Neapolitan-style lip). Stretch gently from the edges — don't tear holes in the middle.
  2. 2
    Spread a thin layer of passata from the center outward. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil , and season with a little salt .
    passata: 1 c (or crushed tomatoes flavored with garlic; or @./basics/Pizza Sauce{} — don't overload), extra-virgin olive oil, salt
  3. 3
    Scatter Parmesan cheese lightly over the tomato. Tear mozzarella by hand over the top. Tear fresh basil over the pizza and drizzle with a little more olive oil.
    Parmesan cheese, mozzarella: 200 g (~50 g per pizza), fresh basil

Bake

  1. 1
    Preheat the oven as hot as it goes — ideally with a pizza stone inside — or use a wood-fired oven if you have one.
  2. 2
    Dust a pizza peel with semolina , transfer the pizza, and bake until the crust is blistered and the cheese is melted. Repeat for the remaining pizzas.
    semolina