Margherita Pizza (plated)
This month the monthly appointment with the Club del 27 returns and… it comes back in a big way! with a rich lineup of traditional and not-so-traditional pizzas. As always, inevitably, all our recipes were gathered by Mtchallenge in this wonderful article.
To my great surprise – being a devotee of Neapolitan cuisine (the authentic one!) – I noticed, among other things, that my Blog was missing the recipe for the Neapolitan Margherita pizza, the true ca’pummarola n’copp’, so my choice among the pizzas proposed by the Club fell, eyes closed, on the Plated Margherita Pizza.
With this recipe you get a soft pizza, with a magnificent high rim (cornicione), as we Neapolitans like it, and highly easy to digest since the ingredients include ONLY 1 gram of yeast! (however it is important to strictly respect the mixing and proofing times).
Plated Margherita pizza is an excellent main course, soft, fragrant and easy to digest.
With the same recipe you can also obtain an excellent tray (sheet) pizza, giving it the typical rectangular shape.
If you love brioches and savory leavened goods, search my Blog by clicking here on the category “Rustic Brioches and Savory Leavened Goods“.
If you love Neapolitan cuisine, look for more recipes in my Special: “NEAPOLITAN CUISINE – AUTHENTIC“.
You may also be interested in:
- Pizza alla Campofranco: the Neapolitan brioche that thinks it's a pizza.
- Quick Neapolitan Parigina Pizza. Easy recipe
- Fragrant rosemary Genoese focaccia, crispy outside and soft inside. Easy recipe
- Rustic Neapolitan pizza – AUTHENTIC! Step by step
- Quick skillet focaccia without yeast, with potatoes and cheese.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 7 Minutes
- Portions: 6 Servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Campania
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Plated Margherita Pizza
- 3 1/2 cups cups Type 0 flour ("Farina 0") (preferably with strength around 220 – 380 W (about 450 g))
- 1 cup cup Water (about 8.5 fl oz / 250 ml)
- 2 tsp tsp Salt (about 12 g)
- 1 g g Fresh baker's yeast (about 1/3 tsp)
- 1.3 lb lb Buffalo mozzarella (Campanian buffalo, fiordilatte or regular mozzarella (about 600 g))
- 1 1/4 cups cups Canned peeled tomatoes (hand-torn (about 300 g / 10.6 oz))
- to taste Extra-virgin olive oil (of good quality)
- to taste Basil (plenty)
- to dust Semolina flour (for dusting when shaping the pizza by hand)
Tools for Plated Margherita Pizza
- Sieve
- Bowl
- Stand mixer Kenwood with illuminated bowl, 1400 W power
- Dish towel
- Baking tray perforated
Preparation of Plated Margherita Pizza
Sift the flour twice (this helps oxygenate it well).
Weigh 250 ml of water and set aside two small cups from the total: in one dissolve 1 gram of fresh yeast and in the other dissolve the salt so both are well dissolved.
Pour the cup with the yeast into the bowl of the stand mixer (you can also knead by hand, it will take more time) with the remaining water and begin to gradually and slowly add the sifted flour, incorporating it little by little into the water.
Once the flour has been incorporated, add the cup with the previously dissolved salt and continue kneading (initially I used the paddle attachment) until you reach the “dough stage”; at this phase you should knead for at least 8-10 minutes total.
Continue kneading for at least another 20 minutes at low speed, and for the last 10 minutes switch from the paddle to the hook.
Do not underestimate this kneading time: it is absolutely necessary to obtain a dough that is not sticky, soft and elastic, and to achieve a fluffy pizza.During kneading, stop occasionally and fold the dough from the opposite side to the one you are working on; you will see that as you approach the 20-minute mark the dough becomes softer and more extensible and finally will have a silky appearance.
At this point, place the dough in a glass or porcelain bowl, cover with plastic wrap away from drafts and let it rise for 2 hours at about 77°F (25°C).
After the indicated time, shape the dough balls with hands lightly oiled (I made two balls because I don’t like the pizza too thin).
In any case, the pizza specification recommends making dough balls weighing between 180 and 250 g each, which corresponds to three/four balls from this batch.Place the dough balls on a clean cloth and let them proof for another 4-6 hours (I used 6 hours) at about 77°F (25°C) (as provided by the Pizza Specification).
Cover the dough balls spaced apart on a lightly semolina-dusted towel, covered like a dome under a glass bowl (preferably transparent).
The dough must NOT dry on the surface, otherwise folds form that are hard to stretch.
Preheat the oven in static mode to the highest temperature together with the baking tray that will be used for baking, without EVER opening the door (at least half an hour before baking).
I used a perforated baking tray of about 12 in (30 cm) (see “Shopping Tips” at the bottom of the article).Once the dough balls have risen, stretch one at a time on a surface, even wood, lightly dusted with semolina flour, without using a rolling pin but gently stretching it with your hands (without pressing too much, especially DO NOT press out the bubbles) from the center toward the rim and then, like real pizzaioli, letting it hang and rotating it so that the extension is more delicate.
A trick (optional) to obtain the classic high rim is this: heat the oven and tray together as explained above, transfer the pizza disc to it WITHOUT topping and let it bake for 2 minutes.
Then remove the tray, quickly top the pizza (DO NOT oil the tray) with the hand-torn tomatoes (without covering the rim), the mozzarella, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, salt and basil, and return to the oven on the top rack for another 4-5 minutes or until nicely golden.
Serve the plated Margherita pizza immediately, piping hot, with another drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and fresh basil.
-
Notes and Tips
I used 350 g of Caputo “Cuoco” (the strong red one) with strength W300/320 and cut it with 100 g of Caputo (the regular blue one). Ideally you would use a pizza flour with W around 220. (350 g ≈ 2 3/4 cups; 100 g ≈ 3/4 cup).
Among the many legends about true Neapolitan pizza, it seems that in Naples pizza is unique also because they use our tap water. The recipe states to use bottled low-mineral water, BUT being Neapolitan, I used our tap water.
Another way to cook the pizza is this: take the hot tray from the oven, transfer the pizza disc to it without oiling, top it and bake 5 minutes on the lower rack, then another 4-5 minutes on the upper rack (the specification calls for 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven).
Shopping Tips!!!
To knead perfectly and comfortably, especially for leavened doughs, I always use my Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with illuminated 7L bowl, built-in scale and 1400W, a faithful ally in the kitchen for: kneading, weighing, whisking, melting chocolate, and pasteurizing eggs.
If instead you are looking for a more economical and smaller stand mixer model, you can comfortably choose the Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker stand mixer, with double bowls 5L and 3.5L, 1200W power, with built-in scale.
To bake the pizza perfectly this perforated non-stick pizza tray is extremely useful, as it lets moisture escape for an even bake and to obtain a crisp and well-aerated pizza. This tray is very robust: it does not deform or rust; it is made of galvanized carbon steel (BPA, PTFE and PFOA free).
You can purchase all the items I recommend above on Amazon at a great price: just click directly on the respective links.
