(The two versions of Neaoplitan pizza: Margherita and Marinara
Traditional recipe)

Pizza dough for 4 people
For the topping
250 g (8 ½ oz) mozzarella cheese
400 g (14 oz) ripe but firm tomatoes
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Basil (for Margherita pizza)
Garlic (for Marinara pizza)
Oregano (for Marinara pizza)
Salt

Time:
preparation: 20 minutes
plus rising time
cooking: 20 minutes
Difficulty:
Medium difficulty
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 731 (kCal) - 3058 (kJ)
Protein: 29.6 (g)
Total fat: 23.4 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 107.1 (g)
Sugars: 12.4 (g)

There are two kinds of Napoletana pizza: Margherita and Marinara.
We are going to explain to you how to prepare them at home by your hands.

Margherita Pizza

This pizza was created in honour of the queen Margherita, wife of the king Umberto I, when she went to the palace of Capodimonte in 1899. The best pizza maker in Naples, Raffaele Esposito, made this kind of pizza associated to the three colours of the Italian flag and dedicated it to the queen. The basil reminds the green colour, the mozzarella cheese the white colour and the tomatoes the red colour. The queen was spellbound by this pizza and Margherita became the most famous pizza in the world.
Prepare the dough. Choose the recipe with the brewer’s yeast.
While the dough is rising, prepare the tomatoes. Wash and peel them; remove their seeds and cut them into thin, little strips.
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°C). When the dough has risen, divide it into four pieces and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece. You can obtain the shape you want: rectangular or round. The doses are enough for four 30 cm (12in) round baking sheets if you like crunchy pizza but if you prefer soft pizza use only two baking sheets.
Oil the baking sheets with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Transfer every portion of dough to a baking sheet.
Spoon the tomato strips on the top, season to taste with salt and at the end spread the remaining oil. Help yourself with an oil cruet. Bake for about 10-15 minutes (cooking times are indicative; everyone can adjust them to his oven). Meanwhile cut the mozzarella cheese into thin strips. Remove the pizza from the oven, arrange the mozzarela strips on the surface and complete the cooking until the cheese melts. At the end place some basil leaves.
Serve the pizza hot.
Some people use to cut tomatoes into slices crossways and place them on the top. We don’t like this method because the pizza dough becomes wettish. On the contrary Margherita dough must be soft inside and crisp outside.

Marinara Pizza

The recipe is the same but the topping is different. Prepare more tomato strips and spoon them on the top. Peel some garlic cloves and cut them into thin slices; place them on the tomatoes. Sprinkle with oregano and salt. Spread the oil with an oil cruet and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Serve the pizza hot.

Note

If you have a pizzeria restaurant and want to begin the certification process go to this site:
http://www.verapizzanapoletana.org/vpn/index.html

If you want to prepare this pizza at home we advise you to use ingredients rich in quality.

- Don’t use preleavened flours. Use “00” white flour.
- Use fiordilatte (made from cow’s milk) mozzarella or buffalo mozzarella; a lot of pizza makers prefer fiordilatte because buffalo mozzarella is too rich in water.
- Use San Marzano tomatoes or cherry tomatoes or tomatoes with few seeds. You can also use canned peeled tomatoes.
- Use extra virgin olive oil of good quality.
- The basil must be fragrant.
- If you want to learn how to make pizza dough very well, consult our "Cookery school". A rich sequence of photos explain to you how to prepare a perfect dough step-by-step.

If you want to combine this dish with other ones for a complete menu,
consult our "Members-only Area".

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