How to Make the Best Authentic Margherita Pizza Recipe

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Once you make this homemade authentic Margherita pizza recipe you will never order takeout again. You can make this classic Margherita pizza in the comfort of your home using simple ingredients, including Antimo Caputo Pizza Flour (00), certified San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, and cheese.  

This delicious pizza is out favorite of all of our artisan pizza recipes.

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Even the novice cook can make this amazing homemade authentic Margherita pizza recipe. For best results you will need a portable pizza oven, but if this is your first time you can achieve similar results in your standard oven.

Authentic Margherita Pizza Recipe Ingredients

First, you will need to gather your ingredients. You should be able to acquire all of these fresh ingredients at your local grocery store. The secret to the best-tasting homemade Margherita pizza starts with a slow-fermented starter also referred to as a “poolish”.

Poolish Ingredients

• 200g of ’00’ Caputo Pizzeria Flour
• 5g of active dry yeast
• 5g of honey (local honey is best of course!)
• 200g of warm water 

Pizza Dough Ingredients

• Poolish
• 500g of ’00’ Caputo Pizzeria Flour
• 300g bottled water
• 20g Kosher Salt

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

• 28-ounce can of certified San Marzano peeled tomatoes
• 1 heaping tablespoon of kosher salt
• 12 large fresh basil leaves

Cheese and Toppings

• 1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese or Polly-O, cubed
• fresh basil
• olive oil

You will need a kitchen scale to get accurate and consistent measurements.

How to Make the Poolish (Dough Starter)

In a small bowl mix the yeast, honey, and water. If you live in an area like NYC, you can definitely use tap water, but for other areas of the country, bottled spring water is the best way to go. Use a wire whisk to incorporate some air and mix until the yeast and honey are completely dissolved. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Next, add the flour to the water, yeast, and honey and mix thoroughly. It should have the consistency of a runny paste.  This can be mixed by hand with a spatula or in a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment.

Now that the poolish is thoroughly mixed, use a rubber spatula to clean the sides of the bowl, then loosely cover it with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 4-6 hours.

Cold Fermenting the Poolish

After 4-6 hours your poolish will look very bubbly and alive. Next, you will put the poolish in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours. This process slows but does not stop yeast activity or fermentation. The slow fermentation is where much of the unique flavor in this authentic Margherita pizza recipe comes from.

Making the Homemade Pizza Dough

After the poolish ferments overnight in the refrigerator, remove it and let it come up to room temperature. Next. add the poolish to the bowl with the flour and salt. Be sure to get all of the poolish added to the flour, a rubber spatula helps, as it is quite sticky.

Knead the Dough

Start kneading the flour and poolish together. While kneading slowly add in the water until it is all incorporated.

Dump out the dough mixture onto a clean smooth surface (like the kitchen counter), and knead until all flour is absorbed. The dough will be very sticky at this point. That, okay, this is how it is supposed to be. Use some olive oil on your hands and on the dough to help you handle it. The olive oil also helps to add some flavor and will give the dough a beautiful golden brown color when cooked.

In a large bowl add enough olive oil to coat the sides and bottom. You can be fairly liberal with the oil. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl.

Resting the Dough

Place the ball of dough in the bowl and coat the top with more olive oil, then cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Set aside for 6-8 hours to let the dough rest. 

After an hour or so, you will notice air bubbles forming as the dough starts to rise. At this point, you will ‘beat it’ down a bit. Do this by pulling the outer edges of the dough and pressing them into the center. Don’t do this more than twice during the 6-8 hours.

Making Dough Balls

Now that the dough has completely risen, we are ready to make the dough balls that will become your individual pizzas. Your dough will appear soft and pillowy.

Begin by grabbing the center of the dough, pulling it up, placing it between your thumb and index finger, and slowly squeezing it until you break off a ball that is approximately 200 or so grams. (Roughly the size of a baseball)

Next, grab the ball with both hands and slowly fold the top down underneath itself until you have a nicely formed, round dough ball. Twist and pinch the underside.

Repeat these steps for the second ball and third and so on. This simple recipe should yield 6-8 dough balls. 

Homemade Tomato Pizza Sauce

In a large bowl, add the can of tomatoes, salt, and basil. Next, use an immersion blender or food processor to thoroughly blend all the ingredients until smooth. You can find our pizza sauce recipe here: pizza sauce.

Cheese and Toppings

You will need approximately one pound of mozzarella cheese for this pizza dough recipe.  There are several varieties that will work well.  We typically use Polly-O or Galbani mozzarella cheese.  The best option is to use fresh buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte, a fresh cow’s milk mozzarella. Use whatever your preferred mozzarella cheese brand is. Cut your cheese into half-inch cubes. The choices for toppings are endless! 

Cooking an Authentic Margherita Pizza

For this simple pizza, we are using the Roccbox by Gozney portable pizza oven. First, preheat the oven to at least 750 degrees F (400 C).  Be patient and really let the oven and pizza stone heat up for forty-five minutes to one hour.  You can also do this using your home oven in the kitchen by preheating it to its highest temperature with a baking stone set on the middle oven rack.  The secret to the perfect pizza crust is to cook the pizza at a high temperature.

Looking for a fantastic pizza oven? The Roccbox by Gozney portable pizza oven is amazing and comes highly recommended. If you are serious about pizza making and want something that will last then check it out. You can get it online here: Roccbox.

Next, prepare a flat surface to work the dough by sprinkling a liberal amount of 00 flour and placing the dough on it. Then sprinkle more flour on top of the dough. This will prevent the dough from sticking and make the forming of the dough easier.

Forming the Pizza Dough

Start pressing your dough firmly with your fingertips working from the center to the edges. Do not use a rolling pin. Repeat this a few times pressing the dough into a classic pizza shape. Be sure not to press down on the edges, these air bubbles will form a nice bubbly crust. Give the pizza peel a good dusting of flour. You will need a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking while you transfer your pizza from the peel into the pizza oven. 

Stretch the Dough

Next, fold the dough over both of your fists and slightly stretch the dough until you have a pizza that is about 10”-12” in diameter. Focus on stretching the edges of the dough and not the center. 

Place the dough on the pizza peel.  Give the peel a good shake and be sure the dough does not stick.  If it does, simply lift the dough and sprinkle a little more flour until you can move it freely on the peel..

Add Sauce and Cheese

Add a small ladle of red tomato sauce to the center of the dough and use the bottom of the ladle to spread the sauce out to the edges.  Do not use too much sauce, it will make the pizza soggy if you do.

Layer on the mozzarella cheese and some roughly chopped basil.  Finally, top with a drizzle of olive oil. At this point, you can add any other light toppings that you would like to your Italian pizza. 

Place the peel in the back of the oven and slowly shake the pizza onto the hot pizza stone as you pull the peel back.

Cooking the Pizza

When using the Roccbox the pizza will cook very fast. You will need to watch your pizza as it cooks and use the peel to rotate the pizza so that it will cook evenly. It will take very little time for the pizza to cook. It should take only about 60-90 seconds to cook completely. Carefully remove your delicious homemade pizza and enjoy. Keep in mind that it is extremely HOT. Allow a moment for it to cool before cutting and eating to avoid burning your mouth. 

Cooking Pizza in the Kitchen Oven

If you are cooking your homemade Margherita pizza in the standard kitchen oven, set your oven temp to as high as it will go. Typically, this is 550 degrees F. Place a large baking stone in the oven on the middle rack. Let the baking stone heat up for at least 45 minutes. Next, carefully open the oven door and transfer the pizza from the pizza peel to the stone as described above. Your pizza will be ready when the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Use the pizza peel to slightly lift the pizza off the stone to check the bottom. Be sure you do not overcook and burn the bottom of the crust. 

ENJOY!

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