Neapolitan Margherita Pizza

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough (morning, for pizza tonight): stir the yeast into the lukewarm water. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt, pour in the water, and stir until no dry flour remains — it will look rough and shaggy. Cover and rest 20 minutes; this pause lets the flour hydrate and makes kneading far easier.

2. 2

   Knead on a lightly floured counter for 8–10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, supple, and springs back when poked. Test it: stretch a small piece thin — if you can see light through it without tearing, you're done.

3. 3

   Shape into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and rise at room temperature for 6–8 hours until roughly doubled and bubbly. (Alternative: refrigerate up to 48 hours for even better flavor — pull it out 2 hours before shaping.)

4. 4

   Divide the dough in two, shape each into a tight ball by dragging it toward you on the counter, and rest the balls under a towel for 30–60 minutes so the gluten relaxes enough to stretch.

5. 5

   At least 45 minutes before baking, put a pizza stone or steel on the top oven rack and crank the oven to its absolute maximum (usually 250–290°C / 480–550°F). An under-heated stone is the #1 cause of pale, bready homemade pizza.

6. 6

   Make the sauce — don't cook it: crush the tomatoes by hand or with a fork, stir in 1/2 tsp salt, done. It cooks on the pizza; simmered sauce tastes like pasta sauce, not pizzeria sauce.

7. 7

   Tear the mozzarella into chunks and let them drain on paper towels while the oven heats. Wet mozzarella makes a soupy center.

8. 8

   Stretch the first ball: press from the center outward with your fingertips on a floured counter, leaving a 2cm rim untouched — that rim becomes the puffy crust. Lift and drape the dough over your knuckles, rotating and letting gravity stretch it to about 25cm. Never use a rolling pin; it crushes the air out of the rim.

9. 9

   Move the stretched dough onto a peel (or upside-down sheet pan) dusted with semolina. Give it a shake to make sure it slides — a stuck pizza is a folded pizza.

10. 10

    Dress it lightly: 2–3 tablespoons of sauce spread in a spiral leaving the rim bare, half the drained mozzarella, and nothing else yet. Restraint is authentic — an overloaded pizza never crisps.

11. 11

    Slide onto the hot stone with one quick jerk of the peel. Bake 6–8 minutes until the rim is puffed with charred blisters and the cheese is bubbling. For extra leopard-spotting, switch to the broiler for the last 60–90 seconds and watch closely.

12. 12

    Out of the oven: basil leaves torn on top (they burn if baked), a thin drizzle of olive oil, slice, and eat while you stretch the second one.