Authentic Italian Pizza

Certainly! Here’s an in-depth, step-by-step guide to crafting Authentic Italian Pizza Margherita and Pizza Bianca at home, inspired by traditional Neapolitan and Roman recipes. This guide is designed to help you achieve pizzeria-quality results.

🍕 Authentic Italian Pizza Margherita

🧂 Ingredients

For the Dough (makes 3 x 11-inch pizzas):

  • 300g Manitoba flour

  • 500g Type 00 flour

  • 300ml water (room temperature)

  • 10g fine salt

  • 4g fresh brewer’s yeast

For the Topping:

  • 300g tomato purĂ©e (preferably San Marzano)

  • 200g fresh mozzarella (preferably mozzarella di bufala)

  • Fresh basil leaves

  • Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

  • Sea salt

🥣 Dough Preparation

  1. Mixing the Dough:

    • In a large bowl, combine the Manitoba and Type 00 flours.

    • Dissolve the yeast in the water and gradually add it to the flour mixture.

    • Add the salt and mix until a rough dough forms.

  2. Kneading:

    • Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

  3. First Rise:

    • Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise at room temperature for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

  4. Shaping:

    • Punch down the dough and divide it into three equal portions.

    • Shape each portion into a ball and let them rest for 30 minutes.

🍅 Tomato Sauce

  1. Cooking the Sauce:

    • In a saucepan, heat a tablespoon of EVOO over medium heat.

    • Add a crushed garlic clove and sautĂ© until fragrant.

    • Add the tomato purĂ©e, season with salt, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool.

🍕 Assembling the Pizza

  1. Preheating the Oven:

    • Preheat your oven to its highest setting (250–280°C or 480–550°F). If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven during preheating.

  2. Shaping the Dough:

    • On a floured surface, gently stretch each dough ball into an 11-inch circle, being careful not to deflate the air bubbles.

  3. Topping:

    • Place the shaped dough onto a piece of parchment paper.

    • Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the base, leaving a small border around the edges.

    • Tear the mozzarella into pieces and scatter them over the sauce.

    • Drizzle with a little EVOO and sprinkle with sea salt.

  4. Baking:

    • Transfer the pizza (with parchment paper) onto the preheated pizza stone or baking sheet.

    • Bake for 7–10 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling.

  5. Finishing Touch:

    • Remove the pizza from the oven and scatter fresh basil leaves on top.

    • Serve immediately.

    • 🍕 Authentic Italian Pizza Bianca

      🧂 Ingredients

      • Pizza dough (same as above)

      • Extra virgin olive oil

      • Fresh rosemary

      • Sea salt

      🍕 Assembling the Pizza

      1. Preheating the Oven:

        • Preheat your oven to 250–280°C (480–550°F).

      2. Shaping the Dough:

        • On a floured surface, stretch the dough into an 11-inch circle.

      3. Topping:

        • Place the dough onto a piece of parchment paper.

        • Drizzle generously with EVOO.

        • Sprinkle with fresh rosemary leaves and sea salt.

      4. Baking:

        • Transfer the pizza (with parchment paper) onto a preheated pizza stone or baking sheet.

        • Bake for 7–10 minutes, or until the crust is golden and crispy.

      5. Serving:

        • Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

 

📺 Watch the Full “How To” Video

For a visual guide, you can watch the detailed step-by-step video here:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvYjienS6Y&t=480s

In this video I share with you my homemade pizza dough recipe and I’ll show you how to make 2 authentic Italian pizza recipes . Pizza Bianca and Pizza Marghe…

Italian pizza should be made in a wood-fired oven. However, most Italians don’t have wood-fired ovens at home. I’m going to show you how to make authentic Italian pizza, the way Italians make pizza at home. No special equipment required.

 

For the pizza dough (the day before you want pizza)

This dough should ideally be made the day before you want pizza so it can ferment slowly in the fridge for 24 hours. This will allow the dough to develop great flavour and texture. If you can’t wait 24 hours, it will still work, but it really is worth it if you can.

Mix the warm water and yeast together, and add the olive olive oil.

In a mixing bowl add the liquid, flour and salt. Stir to combine. If you’re kneading by hand, put the dough onto your work surface and knead the dough until it’s smooth. This might take ten minutes or even a little longer. If you’re using a stand mixer, mix for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. The dough will be sticky – so don’t worry that it seems hard to handle at this stage.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Cover, and let the dough rise for a few hours or until tripled in size. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface, divide into four equal portions, and shape into balls.

Place the dough balls onto baking sheets, and cover. Put in the fridge for 24 hours to rise slowly (this is called retarding the dough).

Shaping the pizza bases

Take the dough balls out of the fridge, and form the pizza bases. Do not use a rolling pin for this – you’ve waited 24 hours to create an aerated texture in the dough. Using a rolling pin will knock all the air out of the dough. Follow the technique shown in the video to shape your pizza bases by hand.

For the quick pizza tomato sauce

Slice the garlic and cook in the extra virgin olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and basil and cook for 15 more minutes.

To make pizza bianca

Pizza bianca is popular in Rome. It’s delicious and couldn’t be easier to make. Simple top the pizza with olive oil, rosemary and salt. See the video for details of how it should look, and for how to pre-cook the underside of the base a little.

Bake the pizza in a pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Check the pizza after 10 minutes to see if it’s done.

To make pizza margherita

Top the pizza with tomato sauce (see the recipe above), and mozzarella. See the video for details of how it should look, and for how to pre-cook the underside of the base a little.

Bake the pizza in a pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Check the pizza after 10 minutes to see if it’s done. When it comes out of the oven, add a few fresh basil leaves.

Serving:

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.


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