Pizza Margherita

Tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil on a thin disc of slow-fermented dough, baked in under two minutes in a wood oven until the rim puffs and blisters: the pizza Margherita is the version of Neapolitan pizza against which every other pizza is measured, because it has nowhere to hide. The story Naples tells is that the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito made it in 1889 for Queen Margherita of Savoy in the colours of the new Italian flag; historians have found earlier mentions of the same combination, and the royal letter is of doubtful authenticity, but the name has stuck for over a century. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana has defined it since 1984: crushed San Marzano or other plum tomatoes, fior di latte or mozzarella di bufala, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and salt, on a dough of flour, water, salt and yeast. Nothing else is a Margherita, whatever the menu says.