Pizza Margherita with Italian Dough
Italian pizza needs very high heat and a short bake. Preheat the oven at its highest setting with a tray or stone inside for half an hour, and bake for 6 to 8 minutes only. Stretch the dough by hand, never with a rolling pin.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Calories
- 420
Photo: Mario56 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The gap between home pizza and restaurant pizza is not the ingredients — it is the heat. Pizzerias run ovens at 450°C, while a domestic oven tops out around 250. Compensating for that is the whole game.
Method
-
1
Knead
Mix the flour, yeast and salt, add the warm water and oil, and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky.
⏱ 12 min -
2
Slow prove
Cover and leave for two hours somewhere warm, or overnight in the fridge for a deeper flavour. Slow fermentation gives a taste you cannot get quickly.
⏱ 120 min -
3
Preheat properly
Heat the oven to its highest setting (250°C or more) with a metal tray or baking stone inside for a full half hour. That hot surface is what crisps the base.
⏱ 30 min -
4
Stretch by hand
Divide the dough in two and stretch it with your fingertips from the centre outwards, leaving the rim slightly thicker. A rolling pin presses the air out of the rim and gives you a flat pizza.
⏱ 6 min -
5
Top lightly
Spread the sauce thinly, leaving 2 cm at the edge, and scatter over the torn mozzarella. Keep the quantities down — too much wets the base and stops it crisping.
⏱ 4 min -
6
Bake
Slide the pizza onto the hot tray and bake for 6 to 8 minutes until the rim puffs and blisters brown. Add the basil and olive oil after it comes out, not before.
⏱ 8 min
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Tips that actually matter
- The tray or stone needs a full half hour of preheating — that is what compensates for a domestic oven.
- Stretch by hand, not with a pin — a pin flattens the rim and you lose the puff.
- Go light on sauce and cheese; excess moisture stops the base crisping.
- Basil always after the oven. Inside it burns, blackens and turns bitter.
People also ask
Why isn't my pizza base crisp?
The oven was not hot enough or there was no hot surface underneath. Preheat at maximum with a tray or stone inside for half an hour, and use less sauce — excess moisture prevents crisping.
Why does the dough spring back when I stretch it?
The gluten is tight. Let the divided dough rest 15 minutes before stretching — the rest relaxes the gluten so it stretches without recoiling.
When do I add the basil?
Right after the oven, while the pizza is still hot. In the oven it burns, blackens and turns bitter — the residual heat is enough to wilt it and release its aroma.
Cook mode
Pizza Margherita with Italian Dough
-
1
Knead
Mix the flour, yeast and salt, add the warm water and oil, and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky.
-
2
Slow prove
Cover and leave for two hours somewhere warm, or overnight in the fridge for a deeper flavour. Slow fermentation gives a taste you cannot get quickly.
-
3
Preheat properly
Heat the oven to its highest setting (250°C or more) with a metal tray or baking stone inside for a full half hour. That hot surface is what crisps the base.
-
4
Stretch by hand
Divide the dough in two and stretch it with your fingertips from the centre outwards, leaving the rim slightly thicker. A rolling pin presses the air out of the rim and gives you a flat pizza.
-
5
Top lightly
Spread the sauce thinly, leaving 2 cm at the edge, and scatter over the torn mozzarella. Keep the quantities down — too much wets the base and stops it crisping.
-
6
Bake
Slide the pizza onto the hot tray and bake for 6 to 8 minutes until the rim puffs and blisters brown. Add the basil and olive oil after it comes out, not before.
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