This authentic Italian pizza recipe makes four 25–28 cm Neapolitan-style Margheritas, each with a 210 g dough ball. You will use a 24-hour fermentation, hand shaping, restrained toppings, and the hottest oven your equipment allows for a thin center and airy, blistered rim.
Neapolitan-style pizza is one regional expression of Italian pizza, not the only authentic tradition in Italy. Here, simple ingredients and high heat do the work: a lightly seasoned tomato base, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and no heavy layer of toppings.
Authentic Italian Pizza Recipe: Neapolitan-style dough for four 210 g balls
Dough ingredients:
- 500 g “00” flour, preferably pizza flour
- 325 g cool water
- 15 g fine sea salt
- 1 g instant yeast, about ¼ teaspoon
This formula produces about 841 g of dough, enough for four portions of approximately 210 g. The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky but should clear the sides of the bowl after kneading. Avoid adding excess flour, which makes the baked crust dense.
A classic Italian pizza: 320 g tomatoes, 320 g mozzarella, basil, and oil
Sauce and toppings for four pizzas:
- 320 g canned whole peeled tomatoes
- 4 g fine sea salt, about ¾ teaspoon
- 320 g fresh mozzarella, drained and patted dry
- 8–12 fresh basil leaves
- 30 g extra-virgin olive oil, about 2 tablespoons
Crush the tomatoes by hand or pulse them briefly until coarse and spoonable. Stir in the salt; do not cook the sauce. Tear or slice the mozzarella, then let it drain while the dough ferments. Keeping the topping quantities modest prevents a wet center and lets the crust bake through. Plan on about 80 g tomato and 80 g mozzarella per pizza.
Ferment and hand-shape the dough over 24 hours
- Stir the yeast into 300 g of the water. Add the flour and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- Dissolve the salt in the remaining 25 g water. Add it to the dough and knead by hand for 5–7 minutes, or until the dough becomes smooth. Rest for 15 minutes, then perform two sets of folds 15 minutes apart.
- Cover the dough and leave it at room temperature for 2 hours. Divide it into four 210 g portions, gently round each into a tight ball, and place the balls in a covered container.
- Refrigerate for 18 hours. Remove the dough 4 hours before baking so it can warm and finish rising. A ready dough ball looks expanded, feels aerated, and slowly springs back when pressed. If it tears immediately, let it rest longer.
When you are ready to shape, dust the work surface lightly with flour. Turn one dough ball out without crushing it. Press from the center toward the edge, leaving a 2 cm rim untouched. Flip and repeat once, then stretch the dough over the backs of your hands or by rotating it on the counter until it reaches 25–28 cm. Do not use a rolling pin; it forces out the gas that creates the raised border. If the dough keeps shrinking, cover it and rest it for 10 minutes before trying again.
Top and bake: 250–300°C home heat, a preheated stone or steel, and 6–10 minutes
Place a pizza stone or baking steel on an upper-middle rack and preheat your oven at its maximum setting, 250–300°C, for at least 45–60 minutes. The surface must be fully saturated with heat before the first pizza goes in. A steel usually browns the base faster; a stone gives gentler bottom heat.
Transfer the shaped dough to a floured peel or sheet of baking paper. Spread about 80 g of tomato sauce almost to the rim, leaving the raised border bare. Add 80 g mozzarella, a few basil leaves, and a light drizzle of olive oil. Slide the pizza onto the stone or steel immediately so the dough does not stick.
Bake at 300°C for about 6–8 minutes or at 250°C for 8–10 minutes. Rotate once if your oven browns unevenly. The pizza is ready when the rim is puffed and browned, the cheese has melted into small pools, and the center looks set rather than glossy or liquid. If the top is pale after the base has browned, move the pizza briefly under the broiler; if the center stays wet, use less sauce or mozzarella next time.
Judge the finished Margherita by its blistered rim and set center
Let the pizza stand for 1–2 minutes, then cut it. The crust should have a thin, flexible center, a light chew, and irregular dark blisters around the edge. The underside should be firm enough to lift without sagging, while the tomato and mozzarella remain moist but not watery. A heavy topping layer, a cool baking surface, or dough flattened during shaping will produce a pale, dense result instead of the airy Neapolitan-style rim.